A human catastrophe is unfolding in eastern Zaire where up to a million Rwandan and Burundian refugees and Zairians have fled intensive fighting. These people are without protection, food, shelter or water, and may be joined soon by an even greater number if the war continues.
Women are especially vulnerable to the present violence and insecurity.
Despite the enormity of the tragedy in Eastern Zaire, it is only one aspect of a wider crisis of poverty, suffering and insecurity across Central Africa. There is imminent danger of a wider war unless the regional governments and rebel movements, with decisive assistance from the international community, act to reduce tensions and attack the root causes of the conflict. The present crisis in Eastern Zaire is partly the result of an international policy vacuum. This lack of international political will to address the underlying causes of the conflict in the Great Lakes region is of grave concern to Oxfam. We welcome the recent statement made in Nairobi of November 5 by the region's heads of governments and the efforts of the new UN special envoy and other mediators but we continue to urge the OAU and UN to step up their efforts to support the regional governments in establishing the urgently required regional political process.