Huynh,+Thy

 Violence Against Civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Extreme violence against civilians has been spreading throughout the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for years. The Ugandan rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), has been behind these many attacks on innocent civilians as a response to Ugandan and Congolese troops. These attacks have caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. In addition to that, humanitarian organizations aren’t able to provide enough aid for everyone, or address people’s needs, especially in the areas that were most affected by the fighting. However, they have already provided help to about 16,000 people, and treated thousands of wounds.

Similarities and Differences: Similarities—These two articles are similar in that both articles quoted Luis Encinas, the coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) operations in Central Africa: "We are talking about tactics of violence aimed at instilling fear in the people. Our patients have told us the most brutal stories -- about children who are forced to kill their parents and people burnt alive inside their homes." Both articles also start out stating that aid groups have been unable to provide the aid needed for all the civilians caught in the fighting in the DRC. Common Dreams stated that an aid agency said that Relief groups should increase their presence in the north of the DRC to help civilians, and CNN tells that a medical aid group stated that humanitarian organizations havent been able to meet the "massive needs" of civilians facing brutal attacks in northeastern DRC.

Differences—The CNN article is longer than the article from Common Dreams, and CNN also used more quotes. Besides Luis Encinas, they quoted Immaculee Birhaheka, from Promotion and Support of Women's Initiatives, and Marcel Stoessel of Oxfam, as well as John Prendergast, the co-founder of the Enough Project. On the otherhand, Common Dreams used only one other quote, which was made by Katharine Derderian, the MSF humanitarian affairs adviser. Common Dreams summarizes more of how the fighting between government troops and the LRA has affected innocent civilians and where the fighting has gotten to, while CNN tells more of how these attacks and battles have affected many civilians and what aid groups and relief agencies are planning to do to help.

Opinion: I think that it’s awfully tragic that such a problem between government troops and the Ugandan rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army, has caused so many injuries to innocent people and caused hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their own homes. What was done to children and their families, and women were horrible acts of violence and I find it really hard to accept that people really do these kinds of cruel things in other countries where kids kill their own family. I thought the coverage on this event was good, though. Between the two articles, I learned something important that was happening and what it was caused by, as well as who and what people are doing to help these unfortunate people in Congo.

Sources: CNN World- [] 

Common Dreams- []