Dispatches Congo's Forgotten Children

Dispatches examines how the children of Congo are being affected by the latest fighting that is tearing their country apart. An entire generation has been scarred by a seemingly endless conflict - in the last 12 years at least three million children have died as a result of fighting and the hunger and disease that war creates. Reporter Deborah Davies hears directly from children from across East Congo describe their horrific experiences...... Children describe how they ran and hid in dense forest to avoid the fighting. In the panic many were separated from their parents. They spent up to three weeks with little food, no clean water and no shelter and as a result many became ill and died. The latest fighting has also seen a huge increase in the number of children being kidnapped by armed groups and forced to be soldiers. At a special centre for former child soldiers Dispatches hears about the long term psychological damage to youngsters who've been trained to kill, to kidnap other children and who've been used for sex – as "wives" to militia commanders. ... The team also travel to one of Congo's gold mining areas to talk to children who work there because they've lost relatives and been forced to leave their homes as a result of a previous round of violence. http://consciousb-boy.blogspot.com Dispatches examines how the children of Congo are being affected by the latest fighting that is tearing their country apart. An entire generation has been scarred by a seemingly endless conflict - in the last 12 years at least three million children have died as a result of fighting and the hunger and disease that war creates. Reporter Deborah Davies hears directly from children from across East Congo describe their horrific experiences...... Children describe how they ran and hid in dense forest to avoid the fighting. In the panic many were separated from their parents. They spent up to three weeks with little food, no clean water and no shelter and as a result many became ill and died. The latest fighting has also seen a huge increase in the number of children being kidnapped by armed groups and forced to be soldiers. At a special centre for former child soldiers Dispatches hears about the long term psychological damage to youngsters who've been trained to kill, to kidnap other children and who've bee...all » Dispatches examines how the children of Congo are being affected by the latest fighting that is tearing their country apart. An entire generation has been scarred by a seemingly endless conflict - in the last 12 years at least three million children have died as a result of fighting and the hunger and disease that war creates. Reporter Deborah Davies hears directly from children from across East Congo describe their horrific experiences...... Children describe how they ran and hid in dense forest to avoid the fighting. In the panic many were separated from their parents. They spent up to three weeks with little food, no clean water and no shelter and as a result many became ill and died. The latest fighting has also seen a huge increase in the number of children being kidnapped by armed groups and forced to be soldiers. At a special centre for former child soldiers Dispatches hears about the long term psychological damage to youngsters who've been trained to kill, to kidnap other children and who've been used for sex – as "wives" to militia commanders. ... The team also travel to one of Congo's gold mining areas to talk to children who work there because they've lost relatives and been forced to leave their homes as a result of a previous round of violence.