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One of the most cruel places to go to nowadays is Eastern Congo. In the former Belgian colony, a very terrible war has been going on for quite some time now. A war which has already costed over five million lives. Every day, children are being killed, women are being raped, and men are being tortured to death. Tomorrow, the European Ministers of Foreign Affairs will gather together in Brussels to discuss this matter, one more time. Belgium, having a historical responsability with this African region, has been pleading for several weeks to send in a European peace-force, driven by the United Nations. Their Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been asking the same thing. But both France and the United Kingdom don’t want to engage their troops on this moment. They are being too engaged, too overstreched in Irak and Afghanistan, as they call it.

The United Nations want to strenghten the MONUC-peace-force with at least 3000 soldiers, and are searching these troups in Europe. With a budget of one billion US $, the MONUC force is the largest and most expensive mission in the U.N.’s Department of Peace Keeping Operations. But, the biggest problem is that the majority of these troops do come from the third world. As if the third world has to take care of its own, and the rich countries just don’t care.

It makes me sad when I see these terrible things happening today over there. About twenty years ago, I visited that region, and had an experience that I will never forget in this life. It was in the beginning of our trip, during the very first days, that we managed to go and see the gorillas living in the wild in the Virunga National Park. I remember that it was very difficult to make the reservations, and had it not been for some friends living in that area who helped me, I would never have seen them in their own habitat.

We left very early in the morning, driving through the wonderful morning landscape which made me feel like Sigourney Weaver in the 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist. After a long drive, and an even longer walk through several hills, up and down, we finally discovered a whole family of these giant creatures. One of the guides had briefed us beforehand to take a low gesture when we were close to these animals.

Not this boy of course. Digital cameras hadn’t been invented yet, so I was standing there upright, carrying my heavy Nikon and shooting one role of film after the other. At maximum two meters away, the leader of the family, the enormous silver back gorilla was sitting on his ass, looking to me and to the guide (who he obviously recognised), as if he wanted to find out what this big white ape with a beard and a camera was doing… Really unforgettable.

Today, twenty years later, it is not only a human tragedy that is going on in that region. These wonderful animals are also in real danger.

So please, dear politicians, stop talking, and take some serious action. This cruelty has to come to an end. After all, you call yourselves civilised. It is time to prove it to the world. Take the action NOW, it is high time!

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