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Humanitarian situation in Congo could become dire as UN agencies lack supplies

Humanitarian situation in Congo could become dire as UN agencies lack supplies

The United Nations today said aid agencies do not have enough relief supplies to assist the growing number of people in need and lack the resources to help newly displaced persons as fighting continues in the Pool region of the Republic of the Congo.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), populations in the Pool region were on the move due to bombing, fighting, banditry and attacks on villages last November and December.

At least 84,000 people have fled the fighting between the Ninja rebels and Government troops, which began at the end of March 2002. The exact number of people displaced within the Pool region remains unknown because aid workers have been denied access to the region while military operation are underway, OCHA said, although best estimates place the figure at 60,000.

In November, the UN country team warned that the humanitarian situation in the country could become dire. The World Food Programme (WFP) has only enough food to assist people for the next four months while the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization expect that their emergency stocks will last only one to two and two-and-a-half months, respectively.