According to a recent Reuters poll of over 100 humanitarian professionals, media personalities, academics and activists, the civil war in the Congo is the most important crisis "forgotten" by the mainstream media.
With over four million casualties since 1998 - more than 10 times as many as killed in the Asian tsunami - John O'Shea of Ireland's GOAL relief agency has branded the Congo conflict the worst humanitarian disaster since the Holocaust.
Although the conflict officially ended in 2003, violence has continued in most parts of the country. According to one BBC report, mass rape has been a tactic employed "as a weapon of war; a means of humiliating and controlling civilian populations."
The Reuters Alternet poll also mentions conflicts in Uganda and the Darfur region of Sudan as the second and third most "forgotten" new stories respectively.
Reuters: Poll: Congo war is world's top 'forgotten' crisis
BBC: No justice for DR Congo's raped
The Dominion: Congo's President Promises Elections
The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.