1.7 Million Deaths Attributed to War

An estimated 1.7 million people have died as a direct or indirect result of fighting in eastern Congo over the past 22 months, a U.S.-based refugee organization reported. Calculations based on mortality surveys showed that more than 2.3 million people died in five eastern provinces between August 1998 and May of this year, the International Rescue Committee said. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculations, 600,000 people would have been expected to die in that area over the same period in the ordinary course of events, leading to the conclusion that war directly or indirectly caused 1.7 million additional deaths.