JOHANNESBURG, 14 May 2008 (IRIN) - Government attempts to control food supplies to ensure that their people have enough to eat are hampering efforts by the World Food Programme (WFP) to source cheap food for the hungry.

YANGON, 14 May 2008 (IRIN) - As the world watches in disbelief the horrific images of devastated areas and floating bodies, the people of Kun Gyan Gon, a town 55km south of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, and 8km from the sea, are seeing very little signs of help. Its 20,000 households have been severely hit; not one shack was spared.

KINSHASA, 14 May 2008 (IRIN) - Two agreements signed since the end of 2007 offer some hope for an end to more than a decade of violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), even if fighting has continued and a lasting solution has yet to be found to the presence in the region of Rwandan Hutu rebels, according to analysts.

BEIRUT, 12 May 2008 (IRIN) - Hezbollah and its allies may have achieved a swift military victory in Beirut and the Druze mountains, but the political battle for Lebanon will be tougher and the consequences long-term, say analysts.

BANGUI, 09 May 2008 (IRIN) - The Central African Republic is striving to turn the page on decades of armed violence linked to mutinies, coups and attempted coups. Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain displaced, many of them unable, or too afraid, to farm their land. This is an overview of the various armed groups, government security forces and international military missions in the country.

DOUALA, 29 April 2008 (IRIN) - Almost two months after the government lifted import taxes on rice, flour and fish in response to riots caused in part by high food prices, consumers are still paying the same, and in some cases more.