IRC in Congo vs. Johns Hopkins in Iraq

Dear Ms. Treacy and Mr. Good,

In response to your explanations for RTE's non-reporting of the latest study into Iraqi mortality:

"There is contention about the number of civilian casualties in Iraq"

"This story was covered extensively [on] "Morning Ireland""

I have one question I hope you could find a moment to answer. Last month RTE reported on yesterday's elections in Congo:

"Congo's elections, the first free elections in the former Belgian colony for more than 40 years, will hopefully put an end to Africa's bloodiest conflict, a civil war that has killed 4 million people since 1998."

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0930/print/congo.html

As did the Irish Times, The Guardian and the BBC.

The figures for mortality in the Congo were compiled using essentially the same methods and conducted by the same lead author, yet their reception in the media could not be more different. Could you explain this extraordinary disparity?

Yours sincerely,

1.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6097990.stm
2.http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,,
3. http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/
4. http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/