Deteriorating living conditions linked to war

Living conditions in Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC deteriorated significantly during 1998, the Bujumbura-based human rights group Ligue des droits de la personne dans la region des Grands Lacs (LDGL) said in its annual report. In a statement received by IRIN on Wednesday, the group said poverty levels in the three countries had risen while access to health care, education and employment had become increasingly difficult. The deterioration was due mainly to the spread of the region’s ethnic-based armed conflicts between government forces and armed groups, which were linked in “a network of alliances and counter-alliances,” the statement said. The region’s conflicts had also brought systematic massacres of civilians, looting and population displacement, the statement said. The death penalty continued to be applied in the three countries, detention conditions remained precarious and the use of torture was widespread, it added.