Sir, - The reluctance of the Western powers to get involved in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is shameful. Crimes against humanity committed by forces of the Rwandan-Ugandan-Burundian coalition must not go unpunished. For three years the warring factions have been left to their own devices, which has resulted in the deaths of three million people, the vast majority of them civilians, and the wholesale plunder of the Congo's natural resources.
How long must the Congolese people suffer before the world finally comes to their assistance? When Iraq invaded Kuwait 11 years ago the West's response was swift and powerful, to this day the Iraqis endure the sanctions imposed on them.
Why this contrast in response? Are Congolese lives less important than Kuwaitis or is it that Kuwaiti oil makes them more valuable to the West? This double standard must be stopped. After all, a life is a life whether it is that of a Congolese child soldier forced into battle at gunpoint or an Iraqi child dying because the medicines he needs are denied him by the sanctions.
How can one life be worth mobilising our armies to defend while the others are not? - Yours, etc.,
John O'Shea, GOAL, D·n Laoghaire, Co Dublin.