Conflicts rage on most continents

(CNN) -- Modern-day wars and conflicts are happening across the globe on almost every continent. Here are some areas of the world that are caught in troubling times.

VIDEO CNN NEWSROOM aired the special, 'Children of War' on Friday, August 17 on CNN U.S. Click here for a corresponding classroom guide on the stories below   Amra Trebinjac lived through the war and destruction of Sarajevo. She shares her experiences with CNN NEWSROOM's Kathy Nellis (August 13) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Filmmaker Kim Chi Tyler journeys through her own family's past during the Vietnam War. (August 13) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Anne Frank's diary still speaks to students   Growing up black in Nazi Germany: One man's story

COLOMBIA -- For nearly 40 years, Colombia has been swept up in a civil war battling guerrilla insurgencies and narcotics trafficking. The U.S. State Department says Colombia is the world's leading supplier of refined cocaine and a growing supplier of heroin. Ongoing conflict forces about 300,000 people from their homes each year.

The Colombian government has retaliated with "Plan Colombia," a $7.5 billion plan to negotiate peace with guerrilla groups and destroy Colombia's illegal drug industry. The efforts recently won U.S. financial support, with Congress approving $1.3 billion in aid to Colombia.

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NORTHERN IRELAND -- Between 1966 and 1999, more than 3,600 people were killed and thousands more injured in the sectarian conflict that at times has spread beyond Northern Ireland's borders onto the British mainland. Although the conflict between Catholics and Protestants dates back more than 500 years, a fragile ceasefire has held among the main paramilitary groups since 1997.

The Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, offers the best hope of a lasting settlement to the violence. But problems still remain. While the major paramilitary groups have laid aside their weapons, splinter factions such as the Real IRA and Red Hand Commandos have failed to call a ceasefire.

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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO -- President Laurent Kabila seized power of what was known as Zaire in May 1997. In July 1998, Kabila moved to reduce Rwandan and Congolese Tutsi influence in his government, sparking an army revolt in eastern Congo and prompting Rwanda and Uganda to throw their support to the insurgents. A coalition of ethnic Tutsis, disaffected Congolese soldiers and Congolese opposition politicians, the rebels launched their insurgency in August 1998, accusing President Kabila of abusing his power and fostering ethnic strife.

Although the government and the rebels signed a peace accord in August 1999 to end the civil war that has wracked the resource-rich nation, fighting continues to threaten development and security throughout Central Africa. Researchers estimate 2,300,000 people died in eastern Congo between August 1998 and May 2000, with 200,000 deaths attributed to the violence of war and the rest to war's side effects.

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MACEDONIA -- Amid ethnic unrest in Macedonia, EU and NATO leaders remain hopeful of a peace settlement. On August 13 ethnic Albanian and Macedonian leaders signed a peace deal designed to end six months of conflict. The ethnic Albanian guerrillas have gained control over substantial portions of the country, particularly in the north, and now control fairly large sections of Macedonia.

Macedonian civilians, especially in the villages north of Tetovo, were being systematically driven from their homes as the violence with ethnic Albanian rebels spreaded. There are still several thousand Macedonians in the villages, but those driven out went to Skopje to demand the government do something. This new deal is an opportunity for peace, but not necessarily an end to the conflict in Macedonia. Hatred between ethnic Albanians and Macedonian Slavs has intensified during the last six months of guerrilla insurgency.

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CHECHNYA -- Islamic separatists in Chechnya fought the Russian army to a standstill during the costly 1994-1996 war. Russian troops left Chechnya after being defeated by rebels, but returned to the region in force in the autumn of 1999. They nominally control most of Chechnya but remain subject to deadly rebel ambushes. About 3,000 Russian troops have been killed but figures for rebel and civilian casualties are unknown.

Fighting between Russia and Chechnya continues, and the United States and other Western countries have accused Moscow of human rights abuses. The fighting has led to a major refugee problem. One-quarter of Chechnya's population is believed to have fled into another southern Russian republic, Ingushetia.

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MIDDLE EAST -- As they struggle to find a way for their people to coexist, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are not only dealing with the bitterness of recent violence but with a lengthy history of conflict. Both sides blame the other for the most recent intensification of violence, which flared last year after Sharon made a controversial visit to a holy site revered by Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem.

The extremely delicate issue of the fate of Jerusalem is one of the core issues confounding the talks in the long-running peace process. Negotiations have also covered the status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, the borders of a proposed Palestinian state, Jewish settlements and security measures needed to ensure the safety of both peoples.

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IRAQ -- More than 10 years after the first bombs fell in the Gulf War, the U.S. is still at odds with Iraq. Most conflict has been over the efforts to enforce no-fly zones, which have been in place since the Gulf War and which Iraq does not recognize.

Operation Desert Storm quickly drove Iraq's armies from Kuwait. Yet, despite the defeat and a decade of crippling sanctions, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remains in power, seemingly unshaken by plots to eliminate him. There has been a continuing reduction in the standard of life for most Iraqis since the sanctions were established. The United Nations' oil-for-food program has helped alleviate the suffering, but in practice, many believe the sanctions have hurt the people more than the regime.

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KASHMIR REGION -- As two nations united by history but divided by destiny, India and Pakistan are almost like two estranged siblings. The two countries have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. The region is small, but its beauty and strategic importance in the foothills of the Himalayas make it a prized possession. Kashmir was an oddity, a predominantly Muslim state with a Hindu ruler. Pakistan and India both claim sovereignty over Kashmir in its entirety, while some separatists are seeking an independent state. More than 30,000 men, women and children have died in the past decade of violence in Kashmir.

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SRI LANKA -- Sri Lanka has been beset by civil war for nearly 18 years. More than 63,000 people have died in attacks and suicide bombings by Tamil rebels, who are demanding independence for the minority Tamils in the north and east. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting for a separate homeland for the country's Tamil minorities in the north and east since 1983, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. In an apparent attempt to avoid a crisis in the war-wracked country, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga suspended the legislature in July for two months and ordered a national referendum to seek a mandate to govern, leaving Sri Lankans pondering the political future of their war-wracked country.

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KOREAS -- At the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula was partitioned at the 38th parallel with the U.S.S.R. occupying the north and the U.S. the south. When the Cold War prevented reunification, a communist government was installed in the north and a capitalist democracy in the south. The Korean War erupted on June 25, 1950, when North Korea launched an attack on South Korea. The three years of brutal fighting between North and South ended in a truce, leaving the two Koreas bitter, armed to the teeth and technically still at war. The face-to-face meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea earlier this year marks the culmination of decades of diplomatic effort. The summit appears to have launched a new era in Korean political relations, taking the two countries a step beyond 50 years of conflict toward reclaiming a shared identity going back 5,000 years.

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EAST TIMOR -- A growing separtist movement in East Timor was sparked in 1976 when Jakarta declared the former Portuguese colony to be Indonesia's 27th province. Human rights violations that included the killing of demonstrators in 1991 in the East Timor capital of Dili have kept the controversy in the public spotlight. Fighting between the independence seekers and pro-Indonesian militias caused about 250,000 people to flee East Timor for dozens of border refugee camps in West Timor.

Although the widespread violence finally ended when Australian peacekeeping forces arrived later in the month, violence continues to plague the border with West Timor. The Australians handed the former Indonesian province to a U.N. administrative team in February 2000. U.N. forces and the civilian police are gearing up for an increase in politically motivated violence ahead of the August 30 elections for a new governing assembly in East Timor.

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ACEH -- Separatist leaders have accused Indonesia's new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, of ordering the military to step up its fight against insurgents in the redgion of Aceh. Free Aceh Movement, a rebel group which has been fighting for independence for the gas and oil-rich region since 1975, claims the Indonesian government has been ordering villagers to raise the Indonesian flag or be shot to death. More than 1,000 people have been killed this year in Aceh, 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) northwest of Jakarta.

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