A multi-party group of parliamentarians called on Canada to lead the way in stopping the mass killings in Congo.

"The prime minister should now place wake-up calls to the international community," said Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

Congolese army on patrol
Congolese army on patrol

Cotler was joined at a news conference on Parliament Hill by the Canadian Alliance's Keith Martin, Francine Lalonde of the Bloc Québécois, and New Democrat Libby Davies.

They all want Canada to do more to stop the bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than three million people have died since 1997.

"This is a genocide," said Martin. "We have done almost nothing to stop it."

The UN decided last week to send 1,400 troops to Ituri province, where hundreds of people have been killed over the past few weeks in ethnic fighting. Canada is sending aircraft and as many as 50 personnel.

"Too little and very late," Cotler said.

Martin said a "peace-making force" was needed. He called on the international community to put pressure on Congo's neighbours – Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe – to stop arming proxy forces in the conflict.