The civil wars that hit the Republic of Congo intermittently in the decade after 1992, the year of the first democratic elections, displaced up to 800,000 people. Most of these had either returned or settled down in their areas of displacement when hostilities broke out again in March 2002. The renewed fighting sent around 100,000 people, mainly Lari from the hard-hit Pool region which surrounds the capital Brazzaville, fleeing from their homes. In March 2003 a ceasefire was signed between the main rebel group and the government. The fighting has also resulted in massive organised looting, the burning of houses, and destruction of the rural economy and infrastructure and has devastated the social fabric of the Lari.