Congo Ignored, Not Forgotten: When 5 million dead aren’t worth two stories a year
Rwanda's crucial role in creating and perpetuating the conflict in the Congo creates one barrier to coverage, as Rwanda is not only a staunch U.S. ally-aid to the country has quadrupled over the last four years (state.gov, 1/09)-but also the site of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi minority, which understandably engenders sympathy toward Rwanda's current Tutsi-led government. Casting Rwanda in the simplistic role of victim/hero-a role reinforced by popular books and movies-has led many U.S. news outlets to downplay the involvement of Rwandan forces and Tutsi members of Congolese rebel groups in massacres of Hutu refugees in the Congo that have themselves been investigated by the U.N. as possible genocide (AP, 11/7/97).
http://hungryoftruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/congo-ignored-not-forgotten-when-5.html
Rwanda's crucial role in creating and perpetuating the conflict in the Congo creates one barrier to coverage, as Rwanda is not only a staunch U.S. ally-aid to the country has quadrupled over the last four years (state.gov, 1/09)-but also the site of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi minority, which understandably engenders sympathy toward Rwanda's current Tutsi-led government. Casting Rwanda in the simplistic role of victim/hero-a role reinforced by popular books and movies-has led many U.S. news outlets to downplay the involvement of Rwandan forces and Tutsi members of Congolese rebel groups in massacres of Hutu refugees in the Congo that have themselves been investigated by the U.N. as possible genocide (AP, 11/7/97).
http://hungryoftruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/congo-ignored-not-forgotten-when-5.html
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