The headlines emerging from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2007 paid scant attention to the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in the eastern province of North Kivu. More than a year after the first democratic elections in decades which were supposed to bring stability to this...
Largely fuelled by a fight over control of the narcotics trade, Colombia’s decades-old civil war often makes headlines, but its impact on the civilian population of the country is rarely the focus of attention. Over the years, as many as 3.8 million people have been driven from their homes by...
Isolated from the outside world since the ruling military junta came to power in 1962, the people of Myanmar (formerly named Burma) suffer from the consequences of repression and neglect. The crackdown on monks marching for democracy in September brought international attention to this long-...
Fighting between government forces and various rebel groups in northern Central African Republic (CAR), which started in late 2005, has caused significant displacement of the population. In the northwest, villages have been attacked, pillaged, and burned, forcing people to flee into the surrounding...
It has been nearly four years since the most intense fighting subsided between Russian government and rebel forces in the North Caucasus and republic of Chechnya. Tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who had fled to the neighboring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, have...
As violence in Somalia escalated this year to some of the worst levels in over 15 years, both assistance for and attention to one of the most challenging and acute humanitarian situations in the world seemed to wane. Ethiopian troops and Transitional Federal Government forces, supported by...
Rampant unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, food shortages, and political instability continued to wrack Zimbabwe in 2007. Up to 3 million people are believed to have fled to neighboring countries in recent years among a population of 12 million. The national health-care system, once viewed as...
In the city of Hebron (Palestinian Territories) the ongoing violence between Israeli soldiers, settlers and local people keeps affecting the mental health of the population, and especially the children. Intrusive thoughts, anxiety, alertness, nightmares, bed wetting and poor concentration are some...
The current pervasive insecurity in Darfur, compounded by fears of future insecurity, continues to generate new waves of displaced people. At the same time the very existence of camps for the displaced, which should serve as safe refuges to internally displaced persons (IDPs), is increasingly under...
The international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is closing down its activities in Rwanda after 16 years of presence. Its last remaining programme, providing medical care for people with HIV/Aids in Kigali, has now been officially handed over to the health authorities,...
