A final report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on mortality rates in eastern DRC says the level and indiscriminate nature of violence since August 1998 is disturbing. It is estimated that one in every eight households has experienced a violent death since the start of the war, about 40 percent of which are women and children. The report stressed that the mortality rate in eastern DRC was extraordinarily high. Four of the seven areas surveyed showed eight percent or more of the population dying each year. Between August 1998 and April 2001 there had been about 2.5 million deaths "in excess of the number normally expected". IRC therefore estimated the total number of deaths at 3.5 million among a population of 19.9 million in eastern DRC. Some 350,000 of the excess deaths were from violence, but most were due to malnutrition and disease, the report added.

"This emergency is perhaps worse than any to unfold in Africa in recent decades," the report stressed. "The situation demands the world's attention and the IRC urges humanitarian and diplomatic action in proportion to the magnitude of the crisis. The recent positive political developments provide an opportunity. However without a marked improvement of conditions for Congolese civilians, the recent past will likely foreshadow the near future." [Full report available at: http://www.intrescom.org/index.cfm]