DRC: IRIN interview with social affairs minister Ingele Ifoto

Ingele Ifoto, minister of social affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), spoke with IRIN on Thursday regarding the development of a national strategy for social protection, following a conference on the matter that was held from 20 - 22 February. The DRC, a vast central African country with some 60 million people, is in the midst of major transition: a government of national unity was inaugurated on 30 June 2003, ostensibly bringing an end to nearly five years of war and leading the country to national elections in 2005. According to Ifoto, the war caused at least three million deaths, and at least 1.7 million people remain displaced. Many other segments of the population also continue to suffer the war's effects, including child soldiers, orphans, raped women, war widows, war injured, and the unemployed, among others, he added.