The call for tough arms controls: Voices from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The war in the eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) has cost millions of lives.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been shot dead. Millions have died from the indirect consequences of war.

What the figures do not reveal is the personal suffering of individual people, families, and villages.

That is why in November 2005 the Control Arms campaign interviewed some of those who have suffered.

In 2006, beginning in January, a series of debates on disarmament are due to take place at the United Nations. There will be technical arguments and diplomatic negotiations.

The purpose of this report is to add to these discussions the voices of at least some of the people who bear the cost of the world’s continuing failure to control the arms trade.