Region continues to reel from earlier armed conflict

The people of the Pool region in the south of the Republic of Congo (ROC) are still reeling from the effects of the various armed conflicts that took place between 1998 and 2003, according to a new report. Thousands of people are still displaced; sanitation is poor and the education system remains disrupted, according to the report published on Monday by Catholic humanitarian groups. Worst of all, the country's security forces have still not gained full control in the region The report, entitled "The Continuing Crisis in Congo's Department of Pool", is based on a survey of some 900 households displaced during the conflicts. Caritas-Congo, Caritas-France and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) commissioned the report. Thirty-seven interviewers undertook the survey as well meetings with people from the communities, the security forces and former fighters, many of whom are still armed. Background to the conflict The upheavals began in 1993, when disagreements over legislative elections led to fighting between security forces and armed militias linked to rival politicians. By early 1994 around 2,000 people were reported to have died before the clashes had ended. In 1997, fighting broke out again following an aborted attempt by the state to disarm an opposition militia group. An estimated 10,000 people were killed in fighting between various militias and opposing factions within the military and about 800,000 civilians were displaced. That war ended in a victory for the former head of state Denis Sassou-Nguesso. Militiamen loyal to the ousted administration, which had been headed by Pascal Lissouba, retreated to the Pool where, in 1998 and 1999, they fought a hit-and-run war against government forces. A peace agreement reached in December 1999 led to the disarmament of about 13,000 militiamen, though twice that number of fighters was still believed to be armed. By March 2002, negotiations on disarmament had failed and fighting resumed. Hostilities began in March just 10 days after Sassou Nguesso had won a presidential election. According to the study, between 1998 and 2002 around 147,000 people fled towns and villages in the Pool which adjoins the Congolese capital, Brazzaville. In March 2003, an agreement was concluded between the militiamen and the government. However, the study found that armed fighters are still frequently intimidating civilians and peace has not really returned to the area. The Pool still has no judiciary. The court of Kinkala, the administrative capital of the Pool, currently sits in Brazzaville. "The tenuous calm that reigns in some places is broken by frequent gunfire," said the study. Living conditions Despite the launching of the government's voluntary repatriation programme in January 2004, many civilians remain displaced. "Forty-one percent of the persons interviewed said one or more members of their families had still not returned to the region," said Alain Moukouri, who coordinated the survey. Forty six percent of residents in the Pool live in partially or totally destroyed houses. About one-fifth of the people surveyed said their homes had been destroyed. More than 16 percent of households surveyed had taken in other people who had been displaced, according to the report. As a result, some villages were overpopulated. According to the report, one-third of all health facilities have remained closed since the fighting ended because they lack medical staff. 14 health clinics visited by the survey team did not have doctors. Many children have died from malaria and diarrhoeal diseases contracted from drinking impure water, the survey found. Only eight percent of the population has access to clean drinking water near their homes; for most, they have to walk several kilometres to find potable water. With regard to education, two-thirds of schools in the Pool only have one qualified teacher and some schools have none. Classrooms have between 56 to 120 pupils, textbooks and desks were lacking and 95 percent of school buildings are in need of repair. Entire villages have been destroyed by the conflict or are too dangerous for residents to return, according to the study. It identified eight villages and two neighbourhoods in larger towns that no longer existed. Many returnees live in "deplorable" conditions, Moukouri said. Some humanitarian organisations are now on the ground, but in some areas their interventions are too late. But things could get worse, he said. "For the moment there are needs which require an intervention to enable the populations to restore their lives, but if the situation continues, there could be a catastrophe," he said. "People who have returned to the Pool are beginning to get on with their lives, but in deplorable conditions," Moukouri said. "They lack financial and material resources. The level of government intervention is still weak. There is no intervention strategy." The team that conducted the survey called for the acceleration of Congo's Demobilisation, Disarmament and Demobilisation programme in the Pool as a way of definitively ending the crisis. [On the Net: The study is available at: www.catholicrelief.org ]