AlertNet asked more than 100 humanitarian professionals, media personalities, academics and activists which of the world's "forgotten" emergencies they wanted the global media to focus on in 2005. Here are their top choices, with basic facts on each emergency.

1. Killing in Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo still smouldering after devastating 1998-2003 conflict known as "Africa's World War"

Seven other African countries sucked in at height of war

Millions killed since 1998, mostly due to disease and malnutrition

Mortality estimates vary widely, from 3 to 5 million. 2004 study by International Rescue Committee puts toll at 3.8 million

Valuable natural resources and legacy of genocide in

neighbouring Rwanda still fuelling fighting in remote east

Violence hinders humanitarian programmes in food security, health care, water and education

Some 3.3 million people now out of reach of aid groups, United Nations says

"The worst humanitarian tragedy since the Holocaust. Five million dead, and yet the neighbouring countries have gone unpunished as they drop in and out of the Congo to feed their greed. The greatest example on the planet of man's inhumanity to man."
John O'Shea, chief executive, GOAL

CRISIS PROFILE: What's going on in Congo?
CRISIS PROFILE: Why Burundi massacre is fanning fears of regional war
EXPERTS TALK: Killing in Congo

2. Nightmare in Uganda

Eighteen-year insurgency in the north by cult-like rebel group known as Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

30,000 children abducted by LRA and forced to serve as soldiers and sex slaves, according to United Nations

Rebels also targeting wider Acholi population, the largest group in northern Uganda, from which rebels themselves come

1.8 million people - or 90 percent of Acholiland region - driven from their homes into squalid camps

Up to 100,000 people killed since conflict began

"One of the most incredible sights in the world is to see every night tens of thousands of Ugandan children flooding in from their rural homes to spend the night in towns and cities. They are seeking safety from being kidnapped by the LRA."
Larry Thompson, senior advocate, Refugees International

CRISIS PROFILE: What's going on in northern Uganda?
EXPERTS TALK: Nightmare in Uganda

3. Sudan's deadly conflicts

In Sudan's western Darfur region, attacks on black villagers by government-backed militia of Arab heritage have raised spectre of genocide

70,000 killed since March 2004 and up to 2 million displaced

4 million may soon need lifesaving aid, United Nations says

In southern Sudan, Africa's longest-running civil war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises

Fragile peace deal after 21-year civil conflict

2 million killed and more than 5.5 million forced from their homes

Simmering tensions in other areas such as Nuba mountains, Southern Blue Nile and Abyei risk flaring into Darfur-like conflicts

"In nearly 40 years of travelling the world, I have not witnessed any crisis that so vividly combines the worst of everything - armed conflict, acts of extreme violence, great tides of desperate refugees, hunger and disease, combined with an unforgiving desert climate."
Martin Bell, former journalist, British lawmaker and current UNICEF ambassador, on Darfur

CRISIS PROFILE: What's going on in Sudan's Darfur?
CRISIS PROFILE: hope and horror in southern Sudan
EXPERTS TALK-Sudan's deadly conflicts

4. AIDS out of control

Some 40 million living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa

Thirty percent of adults in southern Africa infected and 14 million children orphaned by AIDS

Explosive growth rates in China and India, the world's two most populous countries

If prevalence rates in China, India and Indonesia climb to rates now seen in Thailand and Cambodia, the world's HIV-positive population would double

1.2 million infected in Eastern Europe, according to the International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

"HIV/AIDS has been prominent now for over 20 years, and though the progress in the developed world has been admirable, the developing world is being eaten alive by this disease. We have not yet seen the economic consequences of the perishing of generations of wage earners, nor the psychological and spiritual damage done to millions of children raised without parents."
Pam Wilson, international relief coordinator, Operation Mercy

AlertNet round-up of HIV/AIDS facts and figures
HIV/AIDS in China and India
GRAPHIC: New HIV infections in 2003
EXPERTS TALK: AIDS out of control

5. West Africa on the edge

Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone struggling for peace after years of brutal conflict

Communities traumatised after wars that displaced hundreds of thousands, forced child soldiers to commit atrocities and desta bilised entire region

Almost 400,000 Liberian refugees still to return home two years after the war, according to U.N. refugee body

Ivory Coast threatening to implode as pro-government forces break 2003 ceasefire with rebels

Half of Sierra Leone's population of 5 million displaced and 20,000 killed by war that ended in 2002

"West Africa needs a long-term effort, both locally and from the international community, if we are not to see a return to the carnage of the years before."
Maria Immonen, advocacy and communication, Lutheran World Federation

CRISIS PROFILE: W. Africa teeters between war and peace
CRISIS PROFILE: Is Ivory coast heading for all-out war?

6. Colombians uprooted

Almost 3 million driven from their homes after four decades of conflict, giving Colombia the world's third-biggest displaced population

Civilians caught up in fighting between armed militias and government troops, with situation exacerbated by drug wars and breakdown of law

35,000 people killed since start of the 1990s

"Life for the displaced is extremely harsh, with most living in conditions of extreme poverty and struggling for access to sufficient food."
James Morris, chief executive, World Food Programme

CRISIS PROFILE: Why have nearly 3 million Colombians fled home?
EXPERTS TALK: Uprooted Colombians

7. Chechen conflict

Tens of thousands killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee home in a decade of conflict in Russia's breakaway republic

War displaced 600,000 Chechens in total, according to Migration Policy Institute

Some 210,000 Chechen refugees - more than 20 percent of population - yet to return to Chechnya, MPI says

At least 18,000 Russian soldiers killed

"The overall situation in the region is deteriorating. The authorities responsible in Russia are not addressing the human suffering and lack of security and level of trauma caused by the forces fighting in Chechnya."
Anna Morck, project manager, Norwegian Refugee Council

CRISIS PROFILE: Death and displacement in Chechnya
MAP-Caucasus republics in turmoil
EXPERTS TALK: Chechen conflict

8. Strife in Haiti

Political turmoil and lawlessness threatening food supplies, livelihoods and health services for hundreds of thousands in Western hemisphere's poorest country

55 percent of Haitians living on less than $1 a day, according to 2004 U.N. report

42 percent of children under five malnourished

One in 10 Haitians projected to have HIV/AIDS by 2015

Thousands died last hurricane season as extensive deforestation and soil erosion caused flooding and landslides

"Haiti has so little, and with the political unrest and recent flooding, they have even less to help improve their lives. We've seen no coverage in the media of this crisis with such a focus on Iraq, and it's time to bring the world's attention back to what is happening there and how we can help."
Brenna Kupferman, Deputy Director and Partnership Development, ActionAid

CRISIS PROFILE: Is Haiti on the brink of civil war?

9. Crisis in Nepal

About 11,000 people killed in nine years of conflict between Maoist rebels and constitutional monarchy

Between 100,000 and 200,000 people displaced and cut off from aid, United Nations says

More than 40 percent of population live below poverty line and half of all children aged under five underweight, the world's highest such rate

Seizure of absolute power by King Gyanendra in February 2005 seen inflaming the conflict

"The conflict has had a big impact on economic and social activities throughout the whole country and displaced large numbers of people, destroying livelihoods."
Ewa Eriksson, South Asia desk officer, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

CRISIS PROFILE: What's going on in Nepal?

CHRONOLOGY: Nepal's chequered political history
EXPERTS TALK: Crisis in Nepal

10. Infectious diseases

Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds

More than 40 percent of world's population at risk, with 90 per cent of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa

300-500 million malaria cases each year, killing more than a million annually

Tuberculosis is leading cause of death among HIV-positive people

TB kills about 2 million a year worldwide, including people also infected with HIV, according to WHO

8.8 million people contract TB annually, with 3.9 million new cases infectious

Dengue kills 24,000 people each year and infects hundreds of thousands more

Most dangerous to children and people with weakened immune systems

"Despite international efforts, malaria mortality continues to rise as a result of poverty, weak health infrastructure, and in some countries, civil unrest. These deaths are easily preventable."
Roy Probert, communications chief, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

EXPERTS TALK: Infectious diseases
FACTBOX- Malaria
FACTBOX - Tuberculosis
FACTBOX-dengue

Read more about the AlertNet top 10 "forgotten" emergencies:

Congo war tops AlertNet poll of 'forgotten' crises

AlertNet top 10 'forgotten' emergencies

ANALYSIS: World's 'forgotten' crises scream for attention

GRAPHIC: AlertNet top 10 'forgotten' emergencies

AlertNet 'forgotten' crisis poll: who said what

Tsunami coverage dwarfs forgotten crises, says research

QUIZ: What do you know about forgotten emergencies?

VIEWPOINT: Media short-sightedness is truly staggering

FACTSHEET: Poll spotlights grim litany of crises

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