Crisis kills 45,000 a month in Congo: Study

War, disease and malnutrition are killing 45,000 Congolese every month in a conflict-driven humanitarian crisis that has claimed 5.4 million victims in nearly a decade, a survey released yesterday said.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which carried out the study with Australia's Burnet Institute, said Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DR Congo) 1998-2003 war and its aftermath had caused more deaths than any other conflict since World War II.

"Congo's loss is equivalent to the entire population of Denmark or the state of Colorado perishing within a decade," George Rupp, president of the aid group, said in a statement.