Hell on Earth: An Interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning
Journalist Nick Kristof New York Times columnist Nick Kristof
has seen "Hell on Earth" first hand. In 2007, he visited eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo. He witnessed and wrote about a
region that has been wracked by bloody conflict since spillover
from the 1994 Rwandan genocide consumed the country in civil war
and ethnic and resources-driven violence, to date claiming the
lives of nearly 5 million people. Kristof arrived in 2007, a
time when the conflict between Tutsi rebels and Hutu militias
was starting to dramatically escalate again. The continuing
violence has led to new waves of displaced civilians and nearly
constant bloodshed. A few days before rebel leader Laurent
Nkunda was arrested in January, AJWS's Josh Berkman had the
opportunity to ask Mr. Kristof a few questions about the warring
militias, the affects of starvation and the prevalence of
gruesome rape, which threatens the very fabric of civil society.
Why has catastrophic violence pers