Peace still elusive, says UN agency

The number of people affected by conflict in the Great Lakes region has increased by more than 500,000, and the overall peace situation in the region remains precarious, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Support Office for Central and East Africa says in a new report. The "Affected Populations Report for the Great Lakes Region" covers the developments in the region up to 31 January, and details the situation of displaced people, refugees and other vulnerable populations throughout the Great Lakes. Although the report recalled that war was continuing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), northern Uganda, and Burundi, it said that that some countries had shown signs of progress, "with several significant agreements between parties to the conflicts and armed groups" in Burundi and the DRC. "But the picture is far from clear-cut: the region’s number of affected population has inched upwards by half a million people, fighting has blighted the December All Inclusive Agreement in the DRC, and some key armed groups in Burundi continue to insist on conditions before negotiations can commence even as the country approaches the crucial and delicate changeover in the Transitional National Government leadership, scheduled for May 2003," OCHA said. "While the humanitarian access remains difficult in many parts of the countries in the region, human suffering of the affected populations has been exacerbated by the continuing use of warfare tactics targeting more and more civilians," the report noted. The full report