Second Congo War

AD – MPE: 0.04

ND – MPE: 1

The African countries and guerilla groups involved in the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003 were nondemocratic. The US and Britain supported the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, which were major actors in the war. In the beginning they also backed Kabila’s government in the Congo. It isn’t clear, if this support had a major impact on the war. I blame advanced democracies for 4 to 12 percent of the crimes committed by their allies – 2 to 6 percent of the total number of deaths.

The most in-depth scientific study of the excess deaths toll in the war is contained in the “Human Security Report 2009/2010” from the Human Security Report Project at Simon Fraser University. The report convincingly shows that an earlier estimate of 5.4 million is far too high. The authors claim that 2.7 million is a more realistic number. Plausible estimates range from 2.7 to 3.3 million excess deaths. 3 million seems to be the most plausible estimate.

Most of these 3 million people died from diseases and malnourishment, which were the result of the war’s chaos and destruction. Plausible estimates for the number of people who were killed by nondemocratic forces in the war range from 0.5 to 1.5 million. The most plausible estimate is 1 million. Plausible estimates for the number of people killed by advanced democracies range from 0.02 to 0.1 million victims.