Situation terrible, but not as bad as it was

I quote from The Economist:

Thanks in part to the UN’s blue helmets, Africa is at its most peaceful for decades. But the job is not yet over—and can be done even better.

We read about the Russians and Chinese blocking international action to get rid of the government of Syria and tend to assume that the U.N. is not useful. This story suggests that while it could surely deploy better trained, more effective troops, those that it is deploying have helped to defuse conflict in a number of African countries.

Ask the people in the countries restored to some kind of peace how much better their lives are as a result, how much they appreciate what the international community has done to help!

Good news on armed conflict

Source: Human Security Report 2009/2010:
The Causes of Peace and The Shrinking Costs of War. 

The data from the Human Security Report on "state-based armed conflict" is encouraging, but we still have armed conflict that is not state based.

Lest you feel too good, here is a graph on the dismal situation for kids in the Congo from the same source.

Congo's Forgotten War

The war unfolding in eastern Congo has claimed perhaps 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake, but this crisis generates little international response.

I normally resist reporting that seeks to stimulate emotions by focusing on a single family's experience of a large scale phenomenon, but I strongly recommend that you watch this video by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. It is simply hard to understand the level of human suffering caused by this conflict that is estimated to have killed more than five million people. Seeing the interview with family members may help, and if we do begin to appreciate the horror we will surely demand more be done to stop it.