"Why are they killing us?"

I've posted about it before and you've probably seen mention of it on the news (at least I hope that American media gives it some time) - the situation in Congo is dire, with various rebel groups slaughtering and terrorizing civilians in the eastern part of the country. Thousands of people this year alone, with many more killed by diseases such as cholera that occur when people are displaced. As I was reading a couple of articles on the BBC website, I was struck by a particularly tragic aspect of this violence: most of these rebels are foreigners. The LRA is a Ugandan rebel group and the FDLR is Rwandan (comprised of some of the militias responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide). with only Nkunda's rebels being Congolese. These foreign groups take refuge their because there is so little governmental control in eastern Congo that it becomes a safe haven where they can hide from the armies of their respective countries. Recently, both the Ugandan and Rwandan armies have engaged in joint offensives with the Congolese army against the LRA and FDLR, respectively, a step which is almost certainly necessary if these hideous rebel groups are to eventually be defeated. But the consequences for ordinary Congolese civilians have been almost unspeakable. Since the rebel groups are in Congo, they are carrying out their vicious responses to these attacks against Congolese villagers. Various Congolese caught in the midst of the violence are quoted as saying, with disbelief, things like: "Why are they even here? Why are they killing us? They're not even fighting for our land."

Of course, the brutal murder of civilians is evil and heartbreaking in any country, and it would be every bit as terrible if they were Ugandan, Sudanese, Rwandan, or American. But it seems expecially tragic to me that these Congolese, inhabitants of a country that already has a terrible past, are caught in the middle of other people's wars and are the chief sufferers in someone else's fight.