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In a country ravaged by three decades of war, peace is a precious commodity.

As the M23 armed group fights to take control of yet more territory in eastern DRC, and a multitude of other armed groups terrorize communities, there is a risk of complete collapse of state authority and worsening humanitarian crisis.

Communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are being preyed on mercilessly by rebel groups and local militias, as well as their own government’s troops and officials, in a vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse according to a new Oxfam report.

More than 760,000 people have been displaced in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the beginning of 2012, in the Kivu provinces alone.

Camps sheltering more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees in South Sudan’s Maban county are ticking timebombs, on the brink of a major outbreak of disease.

One year after the declaration of famine in Somalia, a quarter of the country’s population are still surviving on humanitarian aid and over a million people could fall back into food crisis in the next two months.

One year after South Sudan’s independence on July 9, the young country is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of the war in 2005, under the weight of severe economic meltdown and ongoing conflict. Long-term and emergency efforts to help nearly half the population, who don’t have enough to eat, could be derailed by an economy out of control.

Renewed military action against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) risks triggering further devastation for local people in DR of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan unless more is done to protect civilians and prevent retaliations by one of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups.

International agency Oxfam today warned that sanctions imposed on Mali could have devastating consequences on 3.5m people already at risk of hunger, if humanitarian needs are not safeguarded.

Growing insecurity in Mali and northern Nigeria is disrupting the supply of food to communities suffering from a major food crisis affecting 13 million people in West Africa, said international aid agency Oxfam today.