Allied Democratic Forces fighters killed at least 43 people in northeast DR Congo this week. The attack occurred in a region that has seen escalating violence for months, with ADF operations intensifying across North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Days earlier, the same country declared a national holiday. DR Congo had qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. Fans braved heavy rain to celebrate in the streets of Kinshasa. The joy was genuine and earned.
The juxtaposition is devastating. A nation celebrating its place on the world stage while 43 of its citizens are massacred in a conflict the world has ignored for over two decades.
Eastern Congo’s crisis has killed more people than any conflict since World War II. The estimates range from 5 to 6 million dead over the past 25 years. The minerals extracted from the region — coltan, cobalt, gold — power the phones and laptops on which this article is being read.
Zero US cable networks covered the massacre. No international leader issued a statement. The 43 dead will not receive the attention that a single incident in a Western country would generate.
Congo’s World Cup qualification will bring cameras and attention for a few weeks in 2026. Whether that attention extends to the eastern provinces where people are being killed every day is a question that history has already answered. It will not.
