The poor will inherit the dearth

LONDON: Queues for petrol on British gas station forecourts appear to bear scant relation to ongoing killing, rape and mass refugee movements in eastern Congo. The unfolding humanitarian disaster in ungoverned Somalia likewise seems unconnected to Western taxpayers


Current developments in Congo vividly illustrate how interlinked these supposedly disparate problems are. And they offer clues to why, perhaps, the developed world should worry more about the unfortunates of North Kivu province and less about the motorists of British suburbia or the credit-squeezed homeowners of Peoria.

Despite an eastern Congo peace deal, which was signed in January, fighting is continuing in a country that has had more than its share. In a statement last month, 63 leading non-governmental organisations appealed for help.