TEACH-INS, concerts, screenings of films and documentaries, rallies, demonstrations, and other actions and events were organised in several cities around the globe from October 13 to 19 to raise global consciousness about the struggles of the Congolese people for peace and justice.

“Breaking the Silence: Congo Week” has been observed annually in the third week of October since 2008 to commemorate the more than 5.4 million killed over the last 10 to 12 years, amid what the UN described as the deadliest conflict since World War II.

On average, between 1996 and 2008, 1,500 lives were claimed daily, either directly by violence or by the hunger and diseases brought about by this conflict. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped in this war fought for control over the vast mineral wealth of this country the size of western Europe along the equator in the heart of Africa, bordering nine neighbours.