Why does the beheading of Christians not make headlines?

The Congolese chapter of Islamic State has a ruthless way of stopping outsiders reporting their presence to the authorities. Under the edicts of their founder, Jamil Mukulu, who once lived as a cleric in London, anyone who strays across them in their forest hideouts should be killed on sight. ‘Slaughter him or her, behead them immediately,’ Mukulu once commanded. ‘Never give it a second thought, do not hesitate.’

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His acolytes take him at his word, even when it’s not just one hapless villager who runs into them, but dozens. Last month, they beheaded 70 Christians in Mayba in the eastern Congo, according to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which campaigns on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide. The charity said the corpses of the victims, including women, children and elderly, were dumped in a nearby evangelical church.

Even in a world accustomed to IS horrors, such atrocities would normally make headlines, as they used to in IS’s old killing fields in Syria and Iraq. Not so when they happen in the Congo, where violence has long been the norm. There are so many different armed groups that even the most diligent foreign editor struggles to make sense of it. A three-sided civil war is hard enough to explain. A 120-sided one? Forget it.

The only attention the murdered Christians have had in Britain is via the Catholic peer Lord Alton of Liverpool. ‘What are we doing to confirm those reports?’ he asked the Upper House. ‘Have we raised this with the International Criminal Court and the African Union to ensure that those responsible for this terrible atrocity are brought to justice?’

His questions are unlikely to get satisfactory answers.