104: a road to hope in the Congo?

I'm exhausted tonight, so this won't be a long post. But I did want to acknowledge the deal signed today by the Congolese government and rebel forces. This has been widely reported, but I am linking the BBC article as carried on 'Congo Planet' - worth a browse to get a feel for Congolese culture and current affairs (well, there are lots of music ads). Today's deal has to be welcomed, fragile as it is, given the extent of pain and suffering that is being experienced by people in Eastern DRC right now. The International Rescue Committee recently estimated that as many as 5.4 million people may have died in the violence there, and the horrific acts being meted out on women and girls in the DRC are well documented (if not fully acknowledged) across the world. So today's first step gives cause for hope that the violence will end, though it must be followed through. The next few days and weeks will be critical - and will reveal whether today's optimism is well-founded.