We Made A Promise - Never Again?
We Made A Promise - Never Again?
Fourteen years after the Rwandan genocide, Hutus and Tustsi ethnic tension overflows in neighboring Congo. 250,000 people have been displaced over the past weeks and Hutu militia, government soldiers and Tutsi warlords battle against each other in the hills of Kivu province. The international community watches silently.
A shaky ceasefire between the Congolese army and Nkunda’s troops fell apart in late August and skirmishes between them have continued.
Nkunda, who leads the dissident soldiers, says he is defending the interests of Congolese Tutsi, a minority group of which he is a member. He claims that the Tutsi of North Kivu, where he is based, will lack adequate protection if he permits his troops to be fully integrated into the national army and deployed to posts elsewhere in Congo.
His forces have also fought FDLR combatants, many of whom are Rwandan Hutu or members of Congolese groups related to the Hutu. At times the FDLR have fought against Congolese army troops but on other occasions, they have cooperated with soldiers of the government army. In recent operations, FDLR were said to be fighting with government troops against Nkunda.
In addition to killing and abducting scores of civilians, soldiers have engaged in widespread rape and in the looting and destruction of property. All forces used child soldiers and some commanders tried to prevent international child protection agencies from locating and removing children them from their ranks.
Somalia Exodus
Somalia Exodus
Somalis have been fleeing fighting and insecurity for the past 20 years. The subsequent refugee camp in Dadaab is now the largest in the world with an official 215,000 or an unofficial 250,000. Recent arrivals recount rape, summary executions and indiscriminate bombing in Somalia. After fleeing and facing bandits where many are robbed, raped and killed. When arriving in Kenya many report being detained illegally by Kenyan police. They recount stories of beatings rape and extortion in Kenyan jails. Many of the new arrivals have to wait several months before they are registered and eligible for food and help with relocation and accommodation. In the 3 or 4 months they must wait they are forced to fend for themselves.
The Global Financial Crisis
The Global Financial Crisis
The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. Until a few decades ago, many financial crises were banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, as well as international phenomena like currency crises and sovereign defaults.
Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented. There is little consensus, however, and financial crises are still a regular occurrence around the world.
Many banks, over the years, have suffered a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors which economists call a bank run. Since banks lend out most of the cash they receive in deposits, it is difficult for them to quickly pay back all deposits if these are suddenly demanded, so a run may leave the bank in bankruptcy, causing many depositors to lose their savings unless they are covered by deposit insurance. A situation in which bank runs are widespread is often called a banking panic. A situation without widespread bank runs, but in which banks are reluctant to lend, because they worry that they have insufficient funds available, is often called a credit crunch.
Examples of bank runs include the run on the Bank of the United States in 1931 and the run on Northern Rock in 2007. The collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in 2008 is also sometimes called a bank run, even though Bear Stearns was an investment bank rather than a commercial bank. The U.S. savings and loan crisis of the 1980s led to a credit crunch which is seen as a major factor in the U.S. recession of 1990-1991. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out by the US government in 2008.
But where there are losers, there are also winners.
Georgia - What Future Now?
Georgia - What Future Now?
Violence escalated in South Ossetia, in August. A breakaway province of Georgia and one of the “frozen conflicts” of the former Soviet Union. The conflict heated up dramatically in the early morning of August 8, 2008. Georgia declared that it intended to restore constitutional order and launched a large-scale military offensive. Russia sent additional troops to South Ossetia, saying they were reinforcements to Russian peacekeepers who are in the area to monitor a 1992 ceasefire between Georgian and South Ossetian forces. Fighting continued and Russian forces moved to within just a few kilometers of the capital Tbilisi.
Somalia - A Broken State
Somalia - A Broken State
Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people.
Comprised of a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, Somalia was created in 1960 when the two territories merged. Since then, its development has been hindered by territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. In 1991 President Barre was overthrown by opposing clans. But they failed to agree on a replacement and plunged the country into lawlessness and clan warfare. In 2000 clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president at a conference in Djibouti. A transitional government was set up, with the aim of reconciling warring militias. But as its mandate drew to a close, the administration had made little progress in uniting the country. In 2004, after protracted talks in Kenya, the main warlords and politicians signed a deal to set up a new parliament, which later appointed a president.
The fledgling administration, the 14th attempt to establish a government since 1991, has no civil service or government buildings. It faced a formidable task in bringing reconciliation to a country divided into clan fiefdoms. Its authority was further compromised in 2006 by the rise of Islamists who gained control of much of the south, including the capital, after their militias kicked out the warlords who had ruled the roost for 15 years.
With the backing of Ethiopian troops, forces loyal to the interim administration defeated the Islamists at the end of 2006. Ongoing insurgencies are affecting the stability of much of the country with the Islamic Courts and it followers using suicide bombers and roadside bombs to affect security.
Congo Real Killers
Congo Real Killers
The conflict in Katanga is going on between the DRC government soldiers and the Mai Mai forces. Civilians caught between the two forces are the real losers of war. Congolese civilians suffering from malnutrition, malaria, cholera, tuberculosis. These make up the largest percentage of the diseases which kill more than 90% of the dead in Congo of which there have been four million in the past seven years according to the International Red Cross.
Overall in central Katanga, in less then a year, approximately 92,000 persons have been displaced. This displacement has to be added to pre-existing levels of displacement in these and adjacent zones in central and northern Katanga, much of which remains unknown.
World Food Program distributions have not only been untimely but insufficient – and significantly less than their own recommended daily intake of 2,100 kcal / person / day. In WFP's December / January distribution to the IDPs of Dubie, only 9.9 days of food were given. The next distribution of 1,050 kcal / person / day for one month started on 27th March – some seven weeks after the first distribution. At present, there are no plans being made to change this situation – despite the obvious food insecurity, growing levels of malnutrition and catastrophic mortality rates in Dubie.
