Aiming to kill: About 5.4 million people—roughly the population of Denmark or the U.S. state of Colorado—have died in the past decade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a consequence of the country’s 1998-2003 war and its aftermath, making it the deadliest conflict since World War II. Most recently, fighting reignited in August between the Army and the CNDP rebel group following a lull after a January peace agreement. Here, an Army soldier strikes an intimidating pose on Nov. 9 at the front line just outside the eastern town of Goma.

Misery on the march: Approximately 250,000 people have fled their homes in recent weeks due to the fighting. Above, people trek to Kibumba, outside Goma, on Nov. 3, adding to the ranks of the internally displaced. The leader of the CNDP has declared a cease-fire, but the fighting continues, according to reports.

Waiting for a lifeline: Colorful clothing and lush foliage belie the humanitarian nightmare at the Kibati refugee camp outside Goma as women queue for food aid on Nov. 9. People at the camp say the biggest problem they face is hunger. However, it’s more than just food they’re hungry for; they also hunger for security. Rebels lurk in the low-lying hills nearby.

Sick and tired: The DRC has the lowest healthcare spending of any country—just $15 per person annually, compared with $6,000 in the United States. At least several hundred people have contracted cholera in recent weeks in eastern DRC, where the fighting is concentrated, and dozens have died. Above, a Congolese man receives treatment for cholera in a Médecins Sans Frontières tent clinic at the Kibati refugee camp on Nov. 10. In the Kibati camp alone, 45 cases were treated in the three days before this photo was taken.

More of the same: Bloodshed and corrupt leadership in what is today the DRC is nothing new. King Leopold II of Belgium acquired the Congo Free State in 1885 and ran it as his own private project, brutalizing the local population, particularly through slavery in the rubber industry. After international outrage, the Belgian government in 1908 took over the area as a colony, which gained independence in 1960. From 1965 to 1997, it was run by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, seen here, second right, on June 30, 1970. At left are Belgium’s King Baudouin and Mobutu’s then wife, Marie Antoinette Mobutu; at right is Queen Fabiola.

Spillover effects: The 1994 Rwandan genocide has played a role in creating the DRC’s chaos. After the slaughter, a massive influx of Hutu refugees poured into neighboring Zaire, as the DRC was then named. Rwandan Hutu militiamen launched incursions into Rwanda from the resulting refugee camps in the DRC. The presence of the Rwandan Hutu militias in Zaire proved destabilizing, eventually contributing to the ethnic strife and civil war that led to the ouster of Mobutu in 1997. Here, a Hutu militiaman brandishes a machete, which came to be a chilling symbol of the genocide, on June 12, 1994, in Gitarama, Rwanda.

Mining misery: Valuable natural resources are at the root of the violence in the DRC, many experts argue. The country has been cursed with gold, diamonds, zinc, and coltan, and everyone from local militias to foreign corporations to the Chinese government wants to get rich extracting them. Coltan has received special attention in recent times because it is a key input in cellphones and laptops. Here, workers pass buckets of mud and stones at a gold mine in the Ituri region of northeast DRC on June 18, 2003.

Boss man: Gen. Laurent Nkunda leads the rebel group National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Seated at CNDP headquarters in Tebero on Nov. 6, he claims he and his fellow Tutsi rebels are protecting the DRC’s Tutsi minority from Hutu militias. If it comes down to it, he revealed in a recent BBC interview Nov. 11, he’ll head to the capital, overthrow President Joseph Kabila, and take over the country.

Weathering the storm: Congolese children huddle under an umbrella at the Kibati refugee camp Nov. 10. Children at the camp are suffering from diarrhea, malaria, and skin diseases. Nearly half of all deaths in the DRC are among children under 5, though they comprise only 19 percent of the population. Sadly, there may never be clear skies ahead for these children.