Other Places Not To Be

It's unfair, really - there you are, raping, pillaging and looting to the best of your abilities, but no one pays attention.  Instead, all anyone can talk about is Darfur.  Or, you're a corrupt government, trying your hardest to terrorize your population, and yet it's Zimbabwe that's always in the news.

So, in honor of those conflicts and catastrophes that don't get a lot of attention, a semi-special version of Places Not To Be:

Chad

Chad has always been the neglected foster-child of the Darfur conflict - there are approximately 250,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad, not counting the 180,000 Chadians who have fled their homes due to the fighting.

That's not to say that the Chadian Government is taking the situation lightly - as the Enough Project blog reports, political repression is alive and well in the country's capital, while another Sudanese-backed coup attempt looks likely.

Central African Republic

That said, really only included the mention of Chad above to put the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) into some sort of perspective - namely the fact that civilians are fleeing from CAR into Chad.  Which is sort of the refugee equivalent of running into a burning building.

At last count, 10,000 people from CAR - mostly women and children - are stranded in southern Chad, having fled fighting between rebel groups and the military in CAR.  According to UNHCR:

"Many are sheltered under trees in the open. Others have constructed flimsy shelters that offer very little protection from the weather. Local authorities report that food is scarce and that people are in need of medical assistance. The health center has run out of medication due to the sudden arrival of the refugees[.]"

Earlier this week, UNHCR dispatched an emergency food convoy from Abeche, in eastern Chad.  They estimated that it would take as many as three days just to travel the 720 kilometers to the Chad-CAR border.

Of course, this isn't necessarily new - overall, 56,000 Central Africans have fled to Chad since 2003.

Northern Kenya

Speaking of border conflicts, there are definite disadvantages to being neighbors with a failed state.  Especially when that failed state is Somalia.  (Motto: We're crazy.)  Northern Kenya has hosted Somali refugees since Somali imploded in the early 1990s - recent fighting has sent even more refugees over the border, severly straining the existing camps.

The main Somali refugee camp in Dadaab was originally meant to house 90,000 people - according to the UN, today the camp's population is over 244,000.

A situation which recently allowed the Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees to showcase his amazing talents when it comes to droll understatement: "Trying to squeeze 200,000 plus people into an area intended for 90,000 is inviting trouble."

In this case, trouble means vastly increased incidents of rape, reduced access to water, and a new cholera outbreak.

Not to mention that 3.2 million people in Kenya are potentially food insecure.  Good, good times.

The Lord's Resistance Army

And then we get to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - tired of terrorizing northern Uganda, the rebel movement has spent the past few months slaughtering civilians in Congo.

Since September, the LRA has killed over 1,000 people in Congo, as well as 120 in South Sudan; their attacks have forced 130,000 people to flee their homes.  The attacks continued last weekend.  (For a map of LRA activities, see here.)

In a perfect example of good intentions and the road to hell, the New York Times recently published an article about how US involvement has only made the situation worse:

"The American military helped plan and pay for a recent attack on a notorious Ugandan rebel group, but the offensive went awry, scattering fighters who carried out a wave of massacres as they fled, killing as many as 900 civilians.

The operation was led by Uganda and aimed to crush the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal rebel group that had been hiding out in a Congolese national park, rebuffing efforts to sign a peace treaty. But the rebel leaders escaped, breaking their fighters into small groups that continue to ransack town after town in northeastern Congo, hacking, burning, shooting and clubbing to death anyone in their way."

Other Not-So-Happy Places:

- As many as 450,000 people have fled recent fighting in northwest Pakistan.

- The UN reports that 40,000 people die each year in Afghanistan from hunger and poverty.

- What to do when faced with a raging cholera epidemic, widespread hunger, and the complete collapse of health and education services?

There's really only one answer - lobster and caviar.

Or so thinks Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, whose 85th birthday celebrations are meant to include: "2,000 bottles of champagne (Moët & Chandon or ’61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks; and much else besides." [List courtesy of the Times.]

If, that is, Mugabe can raise the necessary funds.  As the Times reports, his minions have been busy soliciting "donations".

According to one true believer, who apparently long ago lost any sense of irony, much less decency:

"It’s an important day for Zimbabweans to celebrate the life of our great leader and Africa’s hero. Zanu (PF) continues to receive massive donations from the corporate world, ordinary Zimbabweans and from people from all walks of life and we are confident that this year’s celebrations will be the best.”

No comment.

[Survivors of an LRA attack in Congo - Photo from the New York Times]