Wider region update: Humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC continues to worsen

In this week's Wednesday look at Uganda's neighbors, we focus on the worsening humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Reuters AlertNet reports, "Refugee camps are nothing new in DRC where fighting has forced more than 370,000 people from their homes in the eastern North Kivu province this year alone. Now thousands of the capital's 8 million inhabitants are under threat from bad weather after heavy downpours razed hundreds of homes and killed more than 30 people in 24 hours." UN IRIN reports that the "blood keeps on flowing" as government troops and rebels loyal to General Laurent Nkunda continue fighting. A senior UN envoy has called on parties in the country's troubled North Kivu province to avoid any actions that could harm the already beleaguered civilian population in the area.