"Democratic Republic of Congo: The Forgotten War"

Photo Exhibition Successfully Kicked-off Today

The opening ceremony of the "Democratic Republic of Congo: the forgotten war" Photo Exhibition was successfully held at Hollywood Plaza today. The exhibition will be moved to the Hong Kong Central Library and continue the tour.

In the summer of 2005, five world-renowned photographers with the American VII Photo Agency -Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged, and James Nachtwey -travelled, with their Canon cameras, to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where MSF is running emergency medical programmes for thousands of people affected by the ongoing civil war. The result is the "Democratic Republic of Congo: the forgotten war" photo exhibition tour all over the world.

Mrs. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs officiated at the kick-off ceremony of the exhibition and called for the public to pay more concern on humanitarian crises all over the world as well as those in the DRC. "Through the visuals in the exhibition, I hope all of us can know more about the plight of the populations in DRC in facing wars and conflicts. It's very important for the people there to have a better future with our care and support," said Mrs. Lam.

Another officiating guest, notable artiste Paul Wong, said that the photos visualise the predicament of the DRC populations and he is shocked especially by one of the photos. He said, "There is a baby whose arm is only as big as two of the fingers of the doctor. It's so ironic compared with the situation in Hong Kong where there are so many people on diet."

The sole sponsor, Mr. Kensaku Konishi, President and CEO of Canon Hongkong Co. Ltd, hoped that more people would be aware of the situation in the DRC through this photo exhibition.

Dr. Tse Tsz-wah, President of MSF Hong Kong, pointed out that according to the nutritional survey conducted in late March in three camps for displaced Congolese in DRC, the results are staggering. The prevalence of global malnutrition was 19.2% and of severe acute malnutrition was 5%. "There is not enough food for the people. Most of them have only managed to have one meal a day at the most, usually only consisting of cassava leaves or dried cassava skins. There is a great need for assistance," said Dr. Tse.

In today's ceremony, the officiating guests joined together to take out the bullets from the wall and then stuck some memo paper on it to call for the community to be more aware of the plight of the people in DRC. On the memo paper, Mrs. Lam wrote, "With no more sufferings and have a better future." Paul Wong wished to have "Love and Peace" while Mr. Konishi wrote, "We believe tomorrow will be better than today."

The photo exhibition will be toured around two other venues in April with details as follows:

6-15 April 2006 Gallery 3, Hong Kong Central Library

20-28 April 2006 FJ Podium, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

* Experience Sharing Session will be held on 9 April (3 pm-4:30 pm) at Gallery 3, Hong Kong Central Library

It is estimated that 3.9 million people have died needlessly since civil war broke out in the DRC in 1998. Some people were killed because of the violence, but the great majority died from preventable diseases like malaria and measles. To those who survive, they have to face extreme deprivation, the threat of brutal violence and acts of sexual violence.

MSF has been working in the DRC since 1981 to provide a wide range of services including primary and secondary health care, treatment of malnutrition, emergency surgery, mobile health care, treatment of TB and HIV/AIDS, care for sexual violence victims, and responses to disease outbreaks.

Special thanks to Canon Hongkong Co. Limited to sponsor the exhibition.