The United Nations is trying to prevent a major humanitarian disaster in Central and West Africa by dispatching a battalion of diplomats and a contingent of peacekeepers to the politically troubled continent. But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and peace activists say the international community is doing too little too late to prevent the spreading crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi and the Central African Republic.