RI among 1999's top hot spots

RI among 1999's top hot spots

WASHINGTON (AP): Iraq, Central Africa and Colombia are
expected to be among the 10 most serious areas of conflict and
political instability the world will face in 1999, a humanitarian
organization said Friday.

World Vision also cited Angola, Sudan, North Korea, Indonesia,
the Balkans, Ethiopia/Eritrea and India/Pakistan in its listing
of 10 "global hot spot." None of the nations or regions was
ranked.

"Regrettably, we tend to view the future as projections of the
past," said Dayton Maxwell, a senior policy advisor for World
Vision, a relief and development organization serving 60 million
people in nearly 100 countries.

Humanitarian organizations are carefully evaluating the impact
of the air and missile strikes against Iraq, said Maxwell. The
possibility of a post Saddam Hussein Iraq poses significant
challenges for international relief and development agencies, he
added.

Maxwell also noted that more "interstate conflicts" are
emerging. In Central Africa, for example, internal stability in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo is compounded by the
involvement of surrounding nations, such as Angola, Rwanda and
Uganda.