After almost a year of relative stability, civil strife in the south resumed late in 1998, which resulted in massive population displacement and prompted Ambassador Hooks to declare a disaster on October 27, 1998. Opposition forces and government troops signed a cease-fire agreement facilitated by President Omar Bongo of Gabon on December 29, 1999. Insecurity led to the widespread forced displacement of an estimated 810,000 people, nearly one-third of the country s total population, into the surrounding forests, and an estimated 60,000 Congolese refugees fled into neighboring countries. These substantial population movements prompted a humanitarian response by the international community. The health sector lacks staff and medicines, infrastructure has been destroyed by the conflict, educational enrollment has declined, and diseases such as sleeping sickness, river blindness, dysentery, and bilharzia have reemerged following widespread displacement of people in the forests.
Malaria is the leading cause of death.
Current Situation Humanitarian access has greatly expanded due to recent improvements in the security situation, particularly throughout the southern region. The need for longer-term rehabilitation, such as the current need for restoring infrastructure in the health and food security sectors, has increased now that the acute emergency phase is over. However, the overall humanitarian situation remains fragile and all sectors are in a transitional stage of improvement. The reintegration of IDPs, returnees, and demobilized youths including former militia combatants is a priority for the Government of the ROC and the international community to support a durable peace. Humanitarian access to an estimated 99,000 refugees from the DRC, located in an increasingly insecure 800-kilometer area along the banks of the Ubangui and Congo Rivers, is limited to access along the tributaries of the Ubangui River or by requesting the refugees travel to the few accessible roads.