In 2013, Seleka rebels overthrew President Bezize in a coup and in September raided the capital city of Bangui. More than 6,000 child soldiers have been forcefully recruited into the army, and nearly one million people displaced from their homes. Many international relief groups had to withdraw workers for security reasons. Scores of deaths have many predicting another impending genocide. (Source: theguardian.com, bbc.co.uk)
The scarcely-mentioned occupation of this region by Moroccan forces has plagued the indigenous Sahrawi people for decades. After Spain withdrew colonial rule, the region was split between Mauritania and Morocco. Mauritania gave up territories and reached a cease-fire agreement with Polisario insurgents (Sahrawi national liberation movement fighting for independence), but even after a 2003 U.N. resolution announcing Western Sahara as a semi-autonomous region, it has remained occupied by Morocco. Allegedly razing villages to the ground, cutting off access to employment, and opening fire on civilians, West Sahara’s oppressors have refused to this day to acknowledge its autonomy. (Sources: cia.gov, infoplease.com)
From 1998 to 2003, a swath of sub-Saharan Africa was involved in a terrible “world war.” The Second Congo War’s aftermath is unintelligible: nearly six million deaths, mostly civilians, the highest wartime casualties since World War II. Despite a transitional government’s establishment in 2003, bitter faction violence has sustained. The Rwanda-backed M23 Rebel group cut through villages, murdering and raping thousands of people and enslaving children in its army. The general of this group surrendered in November, but other armed militias, including the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) continue intermittent violence. (Sources: internal-displacement.org, wikipedia.org)
Created in 1986 in Northern Uganda as a guerrilla resistance to the Ugandan government by the insidious Joseph Kony, this group has destroyed villages, slaughtered thousands of adults, and kidnapped children as young as age five into its militias. While the Ugandan government has successfully pushed it out and the army’s number dwindle, it continues a reign of terror throughout the DRC, Central African Republic, and South Sudan. A long-standing warrant for Kony’s arrest has been issued by the International Criminal Court. (Source: warchild.org.uk)
Probably the worst country for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender freedom, the Ugandan government maintains a bloodthirsty agenda toward brothers and sisters of the gay/transgender community. Fueled by religious fervor as a result of western missionary influence, an anti-gay bill described as “odious” by President Barack Obama has been introduced in parliament and is awaiting a signature by President Yoweri Museveni, a vocal supporter of gay suppression. The bill guarantees life imprisonment for any citizen enacting same-sex relations. Homicides have been committed as a result of widespread homophobia, including the murder of gay rights activist David Kato in 2011.
Illiteracy is an urgent issue for all African countries. The small West African country of Burkina Faso has a 21.80 percent literacy rate that screams out for attention and better education methods. Equally unfortunate is the country’s 32-percent school enrollment level, and a lack of teachers that can push the ratio in classrooms to 120 students per teacher. Many U.N.-funded organizations have set up camp to solve this major issue, including Burkina Faso National Volunteers Program (PNVB). (Source: undp.org)
Thousands of migrants from lower Africa — mostly from Eritrea — attempting to reach Israel have been kidnapped and made prisoners by Bedouins in the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. Allegedly held for ransom, tortured, raped, often having their organs harvested, more than 30,000 people have have been held in bondage since 2007, and $600 million in ransom money has been paid for their release. Stories of mass graves from freed captives circulate, but they remain rumors, as Egyptian and Israeli authorities have failed to intervene. (Source: theguardian.com)
Roughly one in five deaths in the world can be attributed to unsanitary water. According to water.org, 3 million to 4 million people die worldwide of water-related diseases every year, and in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 2,500 children die every day from waterbourne infections. Scores of charities operate around the region, such as The Water Project (thewaterproject.org) Water.org, and Charity: Water (charitywater.org), introducing wells, filtration methods, and increased accessibility. (Source: charitywater.org)
Al Jazeera reported on Jan. 2 that the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for explosions at a hotel in Mogadishu, leaving 11 dead. A cell of Al-Qaeda, the group is responsible for hundreds of deaths over the last decade targeting relief workers, journalists and civilians. Bombings included the 2010 World Cup suicide attacks in Uganda, and guerrilla warfare against the TFG (Transitional Federal Government). Despite being suppressed to the central and southern parts of Somalia, Al-Shabaab’s attacks on civilians remain a grave threat there. (Source: nctc.gov, aljazeera.com)
Droughts, poor economies, misappropriation of wealth– so many factors lead to millions of citizens struggling daily to eat, find habitation, and security. According to the World Food Program, sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest rate of hunger (24.8 percent of the population). A 2010 study shows the majority of Africa’s underserved citizens live on less than $1.25 a day. Innumerable measures have been taken by organizations like Global Poverty Project (globalpovertyproject.com) and the Global Citizen platform (globalcitizen.org) to reach the No. 1 U.N. Millennium Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015. (Source: povertydata.worldbank.org.)
