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A tragedy of historic proportions. A war that has claimed more lives than all other current wars around the world, but outside of Africa, no one seems to have noticed. Nightline covers the war in Congo in this five part series.
In the Heart of Darkness: War in the Congo (part 1) Fighting in Congo has involved as many as seven nations, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed millions more.
In the Heart of Darkness: Town of Shabunda (part 2) The city of Shabunda and its people have been ravaged by war. Meet a Catholic priest that tries to protect the community from the brutality of the conflict.
In the Heart of Darkness: Kisangani (part 3) Kisangani was once an economic center where many of the country's diamonds were sold.
Heavy fighting has choked off all river commerce for the community, and caused many civilian deaths. In the Heart of Darkness: The Porter (part 4) Nightline spends a day in the life of a Congolese porter. She is an extraordinary woman who is supporting ten children as a roadside carrier. In the Heart of Darkness: The Curse of Wealth (part 5)
At the heart of the continent, the richest patch of earth on the planet. The armies drawn by the wealth plunder, rape and kill. The people fleeing the soldiers are dying in the jungles by the hundreds of thousands.
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Years, then another four months late, and not in prime timeReviewed by James Abell, 2009-01-10
The ABC Nightline episodes were intended to be shown in September
2001. Part 1 aired on Friday, Sept. 7. Parts 2 - 5 were to have
been aired Tuesday through Friday of the following week.
However, on Tuesday morning, the September 11, 2001 attacks took
place. Naturally, the planned Nightline broadcasts for the
remainder of that week were delayed due to the great amount of
attention that was given to the aftermath of the attacks.
Ted Koppel begins this series with perhaps the greatest humility I
have ever seen in a reporter - effectively apologizing on behalf of
ABC for not having reported on the tragedy of "Africa's First World
War" years earlier. However, in response to the 9/11 attacks, ABC
showed hundreds of hours of news, at most hours of the day,
highlighting the loss of about 3 ½ thousand American lives. For
four more months they delayed the showing of the remainder of the 2
½ hours of late night (not even prime time) Nightline episodes,
continued the pattern of ignoring the millions of lives lost in
Central Africa! I believe the whole series was finally aired
January 21 - 25, 2002.
Brilliant report from the dark side of the moonReviewed by Friedrich Hagemeyer, 2008-04-19
Where no light of global public attention is shining, ABC startet an in depth analsis, visited places and people, reported about unimaginable cruelties, systematic destruction of social life and the paradox of hunger and poverty due to unlimited wealth. Congratulations.
Just a portion of Africa's agony unveiled: the Congo(DRC)Reviewed by Augustine Invictus, 2007-08-13
The DVD portrays the suffering of subSaharan Africa, this one being
confined to the Congo and some of its neighboring countries such as
Rwanda. The Congolese civil war claimed more lives than all other
conflicts around the world but little to no attention was paid by
the international society.The same callous society that did very
little to nothing to the Rwandan genocide of 800,000 people or more
in the space of 3 months. Ted Koppel's documentary is worth
watching. The effects of war and postwar on the African peoples are
portrayed quite vividly with the brutality,devastation and
hopelessness these conflicts have caused. Yet it certainly gave
rise to some heroes of incredible courage and self sacrifice such
as those exemplified by the Italian Catholic priest who despite
grave warnings deliberately plunged himself into the heart of the
conflict to protect the community of Shabunda from that brutality
at the risk of his own life. Not to ignore the unselfish efforts of
some Congolese men and women in caring for the needs of starving
children many of whom are abandoned. Hopefully,to those who are not
aware of the current African scene,this DVD may serve as an
introduction to the tragedies engulfing this beautiful continent,
not only limited to the Congo but also the multitude of African
states below the Sahara desert: Sudan,Sierra Leone,Nothern
Uganda,Liberia,Angola,Zimbabwe just to name a few. Perhaps we have
been too saturated with the uncontrollable conflicts in the Middle
East that we have been ignoring or unaware of the pitiable agony of
this gigantic remarkable continent so rich in natural resources but
so poor of serious international attention.
(It could have been 5 stars if the DVD provided more coverage of
child soldiers in the Congo's civil war. This abominable practice
of training, brainwahing and drugging children as young as 8 yrs
old to become soldiers is also practiced by other Third World
counties, but it appears to be more prevalent in Africa). That put
aside,I highly recommend watching this DVD.
