Editor's note: This will be David Axe's final "War is Boring" column at World Politics Review. However, we look forward to featuring David's reporting on our front page, including an upcoming series on sexual violence in eastern Congo. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his contributions to WPR and to wish him success in all his many endeavors.
DUNGU, Democratic Republic of Congo -- When the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, attacked the town of Duru in eastern Congo two years ago, it took a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers and humanitarian workers 10 days by road to reach the devastated town. Representatives of the U.N. high commissioner for refugees found Duru residents in "urgent need of assistance."
Six months ago, the LRA attacked again, this time in neighboring Central African Republic. As thousands of Central African refugees streamed into Congo's remote Bondo district, UNHCR humanitarian workers organized flights to the closest airstrip, some 50 miles from the refugees' temporary camp. It took three days for them to cover the remaining distance on motorcycles and bicycles.