Displacement surge in affected populations

The affected population requiring humanitarian assistance in the Great Lakes region rose from 3.9 million to 4.3 million between August and December 1999 - a rise of 9 percent, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated in its latest report. While the number of refugees was down from 1,042,048 in August to 933,894 in December (largely because of corrected figures from a re-registration exercise in Tanzania and the repatriation from DRC of Republic of Congo citizens), the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) rose by 17
percent in the same period, the report stated.

The most dramatic increase in IDP numbers was in the Republic of Congo, where displaced people numbered 331,625 in August but 801,000, or one-third of the entire population, by December. In DRC, the number of IDPs increased by 21 percent, which OCHA termed "unacceptably high, particularly when the belligerents have signed a ceasefire agreement." IDP numbers increased by 28 percent in Burundi between August and December amid significantly increased levels of confrontation between the
government and rebel forces, the report stated. "The resumption of hostilities in the DRC and Republic of Congo, the deterioration of the situation in Burundi and renewed violence in western Uganda are all discouraging signs that the region is yet to find a way to lasting peace," OCHA stated.