The Forgotten Rohingya

Sprawling, overcrowded squalor… was what came to my mind as I entered Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar District in Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world, where over a million Rohingya refugees are forced to reside, the majority since 2017. They fled the violence in their homeland, Myanmar, where decades of discrimination and violence against the Rohingya ethnic group of Rakhine state, led to atrocities perpetuated against them by the Burmese army. Their homes were burnt, their women were raped, their relatives killed and so they fled; an orchestrated genocide by the Burmese government, no doubt.

In July 2017, 700,000 ethnic Rohingya walked for 7 days, across the border to Bangladesh, where other Rohingya refugees had settled decades earlier, also victims of violence and discrimination.

Two years later, in July 2019, I sat with fifteen Rohingya men, in a small plastic temporary shelter, evaluating a protection project, as an international consultant…

“They raped our women in front of us”, a gentle faced middle aged Rohingya refugee told me, his voice quivering. My translator, a Rohingya activist, struggled to say the word rape in English. Next to him, other men asking questions, all wanting answers that I could not give. “When will we be able to return to our country?” another one asked, frustration in his voice. “When will Myanmar grant us citizenship?”

Beads of sweat formed on everyone’s foreheads as the heat and humidity in the tiny refugee shelter, became nearly unbearable. A younger man spoke out, in very good English: “If I had known our fate in this refugee camp for two years, I would have stayed in my village and face death in the hands of the Burmese army”. Overwhelmed by what I had just heard, I repeated his sentence in my head a few times and holding back tears, I came to a realization that human dignity was as important as food and water; human dignity which these Rohingya refugees had completely lost.

As I walked around the different sections of this enormous camp, I saw little children, run freely, unsupervised. Young girls shied away as I smiled at them and huge NGO cars frenzied by delivering essential aid to the vulnerable. Bustling markets had sprung up in every part of the camp since their arrival here, no fence, no checkpoints barring entry to outsiders…

“Smugglers come and traffick our girls and women”, my Rohingya activist friend told me as we walked by the oldest part of the camp, the part which housed the “first arrivals". “Bangladeshi criminals smuggle drugs and medicine through here”, he sighed; the lines on his forehead, showing his anxiety. Poverty and exclusion has driven many Rohingya youths to crime which has resulted in soaring tensions within the Rohingya refugee community.

The majority of the refugees living here experience post-traumatic stress from the horrors they suffered when they fled. They have no rights and no citizenship. The Bangladeshi Government has borne the brunt of hosting a million refugees where the expansion and settlement of the camps has caused such environmental, social and economic stress on the area, that Bangladesh is now desperate for a solution.

While this host country is neither a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees nor to its 1967 Protocol and has not enacted any national legislation on asylum and refugee matters, it has however acceded to several of the existing international rights Covenants and Conventions and therefore does recognize a body of international law which provides a framework for protecting refugees. But does this suffice?

After two failed attempts at repatriating a large number of refugees this year, Bangladesh’s desperation has translated into harsh measures, which are currently taking their toll on the Rohingya population. “The situation here is dire and terrible”, the activist told me today after trying to get in touch with me for the past two days due to restricted access to the internet.

Refugees have been denied access to mobile phone networks, markets have been closed, micro and small businesses prevented from operating. Patients in the clinics in the camps are dying due to lack of medicine and medical supplies. NGOs and the UN are prohibited from recruiting Rohingya refugees and they are restricted in their movements. The emergency appeal is 30% funded with donor support dwindling further. Children are being denied an education and forced to endure hardships, no child should ever have to endure.

The Government of Myanmar and its army are responsible for this genocide. Myanmar is the perpetrator of crimes against humanity and it needs to be held accountable for its crimes. Myanmar should ensure the safe return of Rohingya refugees assisted by a UN peacekeeping force and grant them full citizenship with access to rights and access to services and political participation.

“Help us, we don’t have a voice”, was the last sentence my Rohingya activist friend said to me before the line was cut off…

Burmese refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border - Situation Analysis in March 2016

The situation of refugees from Myanmar living in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border is one of the most protracted in the world. The refugees have been confined to nine closed camps since (most Karen) refugees started arriving in 1984. The situation deteriorated after a military junta took power in 1988. The fall of the Karen capital Manerplaw in 1995, created a new influx of refugees raising the numbers from 10,000 to more than 115,000 in 1997. That year, the Royal Thai Government (RTG) imposed severe restrictions on access and livelihood to the refugees in terms of movement and access to cultivable plots. 

Thailand is not part to the 1951 Refugee Convention, and UNHCR's work has been significantly restricted. A brief period of opening occurred in 2005 when the RTG envisaged supporting training, education, income generation and employment opportunities for the refugees. That year, the UNHCR began a process of refugee registration, which, coupled with continued insecurity and underdevelopment in Myanmar, contributed to a further influx of refugees. This period ended in 2006 due to a coup d'etat in thailand. UNCHR registration was stopped in 2007. Camps remained highly populated despite the resettlement of 130,000 refugees in third countries, as new refugees from Myanmar continued to arrive. This trend reversed itself somewhat after the signing of the NCA in Myanmar in 2012.

More recently, since the opening of the border and continued positive political change, refugees have been leaving the camps and very few new monthly arrivals are recorded. Today, however, despite political progress in Myanmar, the military remains above civilian control since according to the constitution, the armed forces can appoint the Home Affairs Minister who effectively controls the police, defence and border portfolios. 

The UNHCR conducted a verification of all refugees in 2015, confirming that around 115,000 refugees still reside in the 9 camps. Mae La camp (pictured in both photos above) is the largest of these camps, with a current population of 39,049 refugees, mostly ethnically Karen. Nearly half of the camp's residents are born there and have a weaker attachment to rural Myanmar and their ethnic community there, than the previous generation. Their interest for return is minimal while preference lies in integrating in Thailand or resettling in a third country (if registered with UNHCR) or even being employed in the Burmese capital. 

Over the years, many people have arrived in the camps in search of improved health services and education (which the camp provides for free), generally interested in leaving behind the underserved, underdeveloped villages of Myanmar to seek better living conditions for themselves and their families. The large numbers of refugees still residing in these camps is testament to that and shows evidence of various levels of income and needs among the population. Indeed, many families are relatively self-reliant due to additional financial support from resettled relatives, employment outside the camp or owning small businesses in the camp. 

It is widely mentioned that, this large percentage of self-reliant refugees prevents aid agencies from effectively serving the others who are most vulnerable and truly in need of assistance. A recent reduction in food assistance due to less funding from donors has had an impact on the population in the sense that many have been obliged to seek outside (undocumented) employment or find other sources of income, often leaving children unattended or left with elderly relatives, unable to care for them. Furthermore, a breakdown of social cohesion in the camp has been observed with increased rates of crime, delinquency, child abuse, substance abuse and levels of suicides.

While an estimated 4,000 refugees left the camp last year, thousands still remain. It is a fact that this is an unprecedented period in the history of the camp, a period of transition. The figures of predicted returns in 2016 vary between stakeholders however it is clear that Mae La will still be significantly populated for the next 2 to 3 years. A population that will need the continued support for its basic humanitarian needs: 

- The conditions for safe return, especially the security situation in the areas of return (principally Karen State in Myanmar), are not yet met;

- The refugee leadership has not yet received a green light from the Government of Myanmar for a safe return of these refugees to their villages of origin, with no guarantee for their personal security. The issue of their land rights in Myanmar has also not been tackled;

- UNHCR currently has a backlog of 6,000 pending cases (in the 9 camps) for resettlement due to the complexities faced by the organisation to clear each case and stricter requirements from third countries. The resettlement programme however will end in December 2016 (53% of Mae La residents are not registered with UNHCR);

- Once refugees leave the camp, they are deregistered from the camp's assistance data and therefore lose the protection of the camp in terms of food security and housing, free health and school. These families, who do not want to be displaced for a second time, will not take lightly, this decision to leave;

- Integration into Thai society as a means of leaving the camp is not yet legally formalised by the RTG and since refugees do not own identity papers, living and working in Thailand is difficult;

- Vulnerable families, of which many are illiterate or who have very low levels of education, as well as people with disabilities, have few prospects for leaving the camp and ensuring that their basic livelihoods are met wherever they go...

Thunder and bombs in Bangkok

Asian monsoon storms produce thunder that sound like bombs. Unfortunately I do know what bombs sound like.

I hear thunder. I look up at the sky; no storm clouds, no rain. I hear sirens... perhaps the lightening has struck a building?

How wrong I was… three and half years in Bangkok makes you lose your crisis sensitivity. 

In the hour following the “thunder”, social media alights with information about what really happened at 7.15pm on the 17^th of August in central Bangkok.

800m away from where I live, a pipe bomb loaded with 3kg of explosives detonated at a Hindu shrine (also visited by hundreds of Buddhists every day), killing 20 people and injuring over 100, some very seriously. The vast majority of casualties and wounded were Thai.

Now, if I was living in a different country, I would continue this article with a political analysis and express my opinion about the problems here. Due to strict laws preventing free expression in Thailand, including an archaic Lese Majeste law and the current Military Junta controlling the country, I simply cannot.

While twenty innocent souls perished on a pavement a few meters from our home, a caterpillar which we had been taking care of, completed her life cycle and emerged from the chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly, at dawn, this morning. When I awoke, I saw her spread her wings, ready to fly free. It was an incredible moment, pure and humbling. I am not a religious person. I don’t consider myself spiritual, either.

These two events happened together: death, rebirth, destruction and beauty…

How do I explain to my 5 year old that there are people in this world who take other people’s lives? How do I explain that to her?

I ran 8km this morning. I ran past the barricaded streets, I ran past the half empty market stalls, the nervous policemen directing traffic and the closed schools. I looked at people’s faces. No smiles, no laughter, just grim expressions of hopelessness. This struck me. If you have ever lived in Thailand, you will know that the Thai are very friendly, happy. They smile and laugh, always. 

I ran into the park, I ran past the park guards, I ran past the groups of elderly men and women sitting together, I ran past the walkers, the juice stand seller, the gardeners sweeping the leaves fallen during the night.

Sad and depressed…everyone. 

My past experiences have not prepared me well for this type of reaction: In Beirut, I watched the Lebanese partying during civil unrest. They ate dinner at restaurants while bombs exploded and aerial raids destroyed the city. In Eastern DRC, I danced with the Congolese under the threat of continuous violence. We drank local beer and laughed. In Palestine, during yet another Israeli imposed lockdown, I saw Palestinian families gather around a table and eat and share their dreams and hopes, all very joyfully.

The Thai are very patriotic. Their country, their unity, their language, their culture are extremely important to them. The Thai are not comfortable with conflict and negativity, in every day life. They don’t argue openly, they don’t offend, they don’t refuse or say no. They are reserved and accommodating.

The combination of the extreme violence of killing innocent people and the prospect of it destabilising their beloved country, is what I read on peoples’ faces this morning. It was heartbreaking.

The Lebanese, the Palestinians and the Congolese are used to civil strife, violence and conflict. They have found the coping mechanisms that are culturally acceptable. The Thai have responded in their own way.

Today, we don’t know who did this, why they did this and what will happen next…

People power in the Arab World: An oxymoron?

Who would have thought just 6 months ago, that such transformations were to take place in the Arab World?

Just a few months ago, protests in Tunisia, brought down Ben Ali, who held office since 1987. Last week, popular uprisings in Egypt forced Mubarak to resign, president since 1981. Today protests are ongoing in Yemen, Iran, Algeria and Bahrain. Where next?

Huntington was wrong, it is not a clash of civilisations, but a clash between people and their leaders. The lines between the civilisations as Huntington saw it, is actually quite blurred for today's "Facebook generation". Indeed, Arab youth in the Middle East have the same aspirations as most European youth. They have realised today that those aspirations cannot be achieved under the current socio-political and economic climate in their countries. In other words, their leaders and their entourage, need to go.

Mass mobilisation for public manifestations is easy these days. Just create a page on Facebook, send out a couple tweets, say when and where, and you get 100,000 youths protesting the next day.

It is an interesting time to be in the Middle East. You can feel the energy and the desire for change.

Not sure how much sleep some Arab leaders are getting these days...

Lebanon Indictments set to raise tensions: article by the IISS

The IISS has published a very interesting article today that summarises well the current situation in Lebanon regarding the indictments of the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), set up to investigate the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005: Click here to read

Iranian President, Ahmedinejad to visit Lebanon tomorrow

A controversial visit to Lebanon by Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, planned at least two months ago, is to take place in the following two days, on 13 and 14 October 2010. There has been much protest by the US as well as Lebanon's ruling majority against, what they call a "provocative visit". I just received an email from the British Vice Consul in Beirut, with information on the Iranian President's agenda, here it is:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear All

Please be informed that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be holding an official visit to Lebanon on 13-14 October 2010. He will land at Beirut Airport on 13 October 2010 and depart on 14 October 2010 ( Exact time is not revealed yet).
It has been reported that the first day, on 13 October 2010, he will have separate official meetings in Beirut with the President, the Parliament Speaker and the Prime Minister, and visit South Beirut Suburbs. On the second day, 14 October 2010, President Ahmedinejad will travel to South of Lebanon to visit the villages of Qana and Bint Jbeil which suffered deadly Israeli raids in 1996 and 2006. He is also due to inaugurate a tourist park named Iran Garden in the nearby village of Marun al-Ras which was funded by Iran. A visit to the war museum built by Hezbollah in the town of Mlila is also likely reported on President's program.
The President and his delegation will be accommodated at the Metropolitan Hotel. The official movements from Beirut to South are reportedly announced by road. Iranian President will be accompanied by Lebanese President on his visit to South Lebanon.
All security measures during the Presidential visit will be taken by LAF and the Presidential Guards battalion.
Public demonstrations, and traffic disruption and strong security measures are expected in a number of areas on both days.
Large supportive demonstrations and gathering even peaceful can turn violent in case of security incidents which cannot be excluded.

Kind regards

British Vice Consul

Beirut

--------------------------------------------------------------

Hizbullah deputy Leader, Naim Qassem, said recently that Ahmedinejad's arrival in Beirut "voices Lebanon's sovereignty. It is an expression of friendship and support to Lebanon as a resistance, army, people and institutions".

The Iranian President has recently stressed his financial support to arm Lebanon's army (after the US delayed its own funding), something most probably to be discussed during his visit.

The US Embassy in Beirut warned its citizens not to attend rallies featuring the controversial leader. The US State Department recently conducted a routine update of its travel advice for citizens in or thinking of travelling to Lebanon: "The Department of State continues to urge US citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon due to current safety and security concerns. US citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks", said the travel warning, issued Friday.

It will be interesting to see what will be the outcome of this much anticipated Presidential visit... In addition to Beirut roads congestion, frustrated commuters and deafening helicopters hovering over the city's skyline for two days...

Lebanese Government at Risk of Collapse if Tribunal indicts Hezbollah

The English language Lebanese newspaper, the Daily Star has published an interesting article summarising the current political situation in Lebanon. Read here.

As a result of the successful talks in Qatar in 2008, following 18 months of political crisis in Lebanon, Saad Hariri, Rafik Hariri's son, formed a coallition government with Hezbollah and its allies. It seems as though today, due to the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon's indictments of Hezbollah members next month, a political and security crisis could ensue.

The Daily Star article linked above states that: "The Hizbullah warnings put Hariri in a thorny position. He either continues supporting the Tribunal, even if it accuses the group, putting him on a collision course with Hizbullah. Or he denounces the UN investigation into his father’s death, and risks losing international support and credibility."

It concludes that: “It does not seem there is a specific way out. The crisis is political. It [might] develop to a dangerous security crisis.”

Nasrallah's evidence of Israel's involvement in Hariri's murder in 2005

Last night, Al Manar television (Hezbollah's own TV channel) broadcasted live Nasrallah's much anticipated speech.

For obvious security reasons he always addresses the media by video link from an undisclosed location. Editors-in-Chief of major Lebanese papers and media outlets were invited including some political leaders.

A few weeks ago, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon declared that it will be indicting individuals in its September report, for the murder of Rafik Hariri in 2005. Some of these individuals are members of Hezbollah, hence Nasrallah's anger at this announcement. He is now adamant to prove that Israel is the culprit behind Hariri's murder. His speech yesterday was an opportunity for him to show footage intercepted from Israeli surveillance drones which hover over Lebanese territory on a regular basis. The footage dates back to 1993 and shows regular surveillance of Hariri, his family and political allies.

Nasrallah claimed that it was in Israel's interest to assassinate Hariri, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, therefore providing a more favorable environment for Israel in its continued struggle against Lebanon and its resistance. He also stated that Israel hoped for Lebanese civil unrest and instability as a result of the 2005 murder.

The Tribunal has now requested that Nasrallah hand over this evidence for further investigation.

There is speculation on the streets in Lebanon that a crisis is in the making and that another war between Lebanon and Israel could take place in the not so distant future... Time to stock up on emergency food supplies and an evacuation bag?

Deadly Israeli-Lebanon border clash today

The situation seems to be worsening in the Middle East, with deteriorating diplomatic relations in the region and a non-existent peace process in Palestine. The situation in Gaza is intolerable and tension is rising.

The UN tribunal which was set up to investigate the assassination of Hariri in 2005 is ready to indict individuals, which include members of the Hizbullah group.

Nasrallah, it's charismatic leader, has officially denounced the tribunal and its indictments, brushing them off as an Israeli/American plot against his party. Analysts claim that violence could ensue in September. Ramadan will start in a few days, the heat and humidity in the region is at its maximum, not a good combination in a situation of increased political tension!

Today is an example of the potential for small incidences to spark regional conflict (read article):

This is the worst incident since the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war, which lasted 30 days and devastated the South of Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah's strongholds.

A new International Crisis Group report published yesterday claimed that:

"Should hostilities break out, Israel will want to hit hard and fast to avoid duplicating the 2006 scenario. It will be less likely than in the past to distinguish between Hizbollah and a Lebanese government of which the Shiite movement is an integral part and more likely to take aim at Syria – both because it is the more vulnerable target and because it is Hizbollah’s principal supplier of military and logistical support. Meanwhile, as tensions have risen, the so-called “axis of resistance” – Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbollah – has been busy intensifying security ties. Involvement by one in the event of attack against another no longer can be dismissed as idle speculation. But that is only the better half of the story. Beneath the surface, tensions are mounting with no obvious safety valve. The deterrence regime has helped keep the peace, but the process it perpetuates – mutually reinforcing military preparations; Hizbollah’s growing and more sophisticated arsenal; escalating Israeli threats – pulls in the opposite direction and could trigger the very outcome it has averted so far. If Israel would not like a war, it does not like what it is seeing either."

State of the World's Mothers 2010 - Report from Save the Children

The international NGO, Save the Children, publish a little known annual report comparing countries' status of maternal health care and general maternal well-being. The 2010 report has just been published (to coincide with Mother's Day) revealing very interesting results.

Among the top 10 places to be a mother, not surprisingly, Norway ranks first, followed by Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Among the bottom 10 places, Afghanistan ranks last (shocking considering the fact that the international community has been working there since 2001, pouring billions of aid and implementing numerous development programmes), preceded by Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, DR Congo, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.

The report's main conclusion is that there is an urgent need for increased numbers of skilled female health workers in countries whose ranking is low, who have access to rural areas and where social and cultural stigmas must be overcome (such as countries where access to women is limited).

The report states that "developing countries have too few health care workers to take on the life and death challenges facing mothers, their babies and young children. Worldwide, there are 57 countries with critical health workforce shortages, meaning that they have fewer than 23 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people. Thirty-six of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to insufficient numbers, health workers are often poorly distributed, with the impoverished, hard-to-reach and marginalised families being most poorly served".

The sad irony is that the few skilled health workers who do originate from these countries in need, emmigrate to Europe, USA and Australia, contributing to extensive brain drain in developing countries, seeking better employment conditions and higher pay. One just has to go to a general hospital in any city in the UK and one will hardly find a British nurse.

The USA places 28, down from 27 in 2009 (next to Poland and Croatia), primarily because its rate for maternal mortality which is 1 in 4,800, is one the highest in the developed world. The US also ranks behind many other wealthy nations in terms of the generosity of maternity leave policies, which generally range from 4 to 6 weeks (if any...). The United Nations' maternity leave policy is minimum 4 months, while Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden grant up to 12 months paid maternity leave.

Another interesting revelation is Lebanon's ranking, which falls at 48. Strange result considering the fact that 98% of Lebanese births are attended by skilled health workers and woman attend formal education for an average of 14 years (compared to 4 years in countries like Chad and Pakistan). So why such a poor ranking? I suspect it is probably due to the fact that in the workplace, Lebanese women today still do not benefit from equal pay and earn 25 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts; therefore not providing a conducive environment for mothers to pursue careers and be economically active.

A highly recommended read...

From Daunt Books in London: Two Recommended Reads

I was in London a few months ago and as usual, I try to take the opportunity to visit Daunt Books shop in Marylebone. The Africa section downstairs is incredibly well stocked. I bought two interesting reads which I devoured quickly and which I wish to recommend here:

1) "Chief of Station, Congo" by L. Devlin

Published in 2007, Larry Devlin's autobiographical novel on his years as CIA station chief in DR Congo during the crucial years following the country's independence and subsequent coup by Mobutu at the beginning of the 1960s, is an interesting account of Cold War US-Soviet power struggle in Central Africa. For those who have lived in the Congo recently and Kinshasa in particular, this is an enjoyable read as Devlin's depiction of that period is eye-opening.

One realises sadly that nothing much has changed in the past 50 years and worryingly, as the UN's mission in the Congo (MONUC) announces the possible withdrawal of a portion of its 20,0000 peacekeeping troups as early as June 2010, the fate of that country seems somewhat unpredictable.

2) "Emergency Sex and other Desperate Measures: True Stories from a War Zone" by K. Cain, H. Postlewait and A. Thomson

This book was recommended to me by a DFID colleague. Highly controversial and refreshingly blunt, the books' authors recount their actual experiences as three UN aid workers during the 1990s, in some of the most tragic conflict contexts of that era, namely Cambodia, Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia. Interesting perspectives on life and work in those war zones, quite familiar to those of us who have experienced similar situations.

From a culture of war to a culture of peace

Bruce Kent, an active peace campaigner, currently vice president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Pax Christi UK and the Movement for the Abolition of War, wrote an article recently on OpenDemocracy.net entitled "From a culture of war to a culture of peace". The article is brilliant, the ideas fresh and original and the issue covered being of the utmost importance in today's overly militarised world. His article is a must read for all.

He touches upon the importance of developing a "consciousness of global citizenship" where high school pupils should be given a copy of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He challenges governments in their role in peace and states that Bank Holidays should be replaced by more significant dates such as the signing of peace treaties. He encourages the celebration of peacemakers rather than war heroes and brilliantly concludes that "it is a task for all of us, if we are serious about building a culture of peace. Culture has to change. We are all part of the process of making that change happen".

Looting following natural disasters: Why?

The year 2010 seems to be the year of natural disasters. These past few months, an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit Northern Philippines, just a few days after an even stronger quake in Chile. Recently, another one in Taiwan. While Haiti is still recovering from its own major earthquake which took place near its capital Port-au-Prince in January, the Portuguese Madeira islands are struggling in the aftermath of major floods and landslides which occurred last month. A few weeks ago, heavy rains caused major mudslides killing nearly one hundred Ugandans, wiping out three villages in the East of the country. Chile experienced a second earthquake during Pinera's inauguration as the new President, following Michelle Bachelet's end of term in office recently.

Away from the obvious global warming debate and avoiding further comments on Borg Lomborg's "The Skeptical Environmentalist", which most of us have hopefully read by now, I am somewhat curious about the social analysis of what takes place within societies, affected by such disasters.

While the death and destruction resulting from these devastating natural phenomena are distressful, the instability, the looting and chaos in its aftermath, are of equally great concern. Haiti and Chile in particular, experienced serious occurrences of looting recently which begs the question: why does this happen and why in only some countries? Can we learn something about societies in their reaction to natural disasters? Are communities tested this way and what does this mean for policy-making?

Being an expert on conflict and post-conflict development, rather than having much knowledge of post-disaster recovery or disaster preparedness, I found striking similarities between post-disaster and post-conflict contexts: Power vacuums at both local and central government levels, lack of basic services, insecurity, sudden breakdown in social community structures, increase in informal and illicit economic activities, internal displacement and refugee crises, etc.

We often expect chaos and crime to result from conflict, however we seem perplexed when this happens during natural calamities, which are not caused by any man's malicious will, and which affects peaceful neighbouring communities. One would expect a sense of solidarity and national mourning, something that brings people together in their common struggle to survive the disaster, rather than the social unrest and looting we have witnessed.

With some further analysis and investigation, one begins to comprehend however, why this happens in some countries and not in others. Indeed, Chile and Haiti (as well as Southern USA during the Katrina disaster) are essentially quite unequal societies, with a distorted wealth distribution where a minority are privileged and the majority destitute or significantly more disadvantaged. According to the UN's Human Development Report in 2009, Haiti's Gini coefficient (which measures inequality and wealth distribution) was 59.5 (whereas 0 is perfectly equal and 100 unequal). In comparison, Norway's Gini was 25.8 and Belgium, 33. The United States was 40.8 (the highest for a developped country) and Chile, 52.7, also high relative to its GDP (as is the case for most Latin American countries).

The floods in the Madeira islands and the earthquake in Taiwan did not generate looting or widespread crime, both countries having significantly lower Gini coefficients and therefore more equal societies. Both Haiti and Chile in 2010 as well as the USA in 2005, relied on armed military personnel to ensure stability in certain urban areas, using force when necessary to prevent wide scale unrest and protect private and public assets from looting and theft.

While some studies suggest that levels of education also determine how a country's population reacts to a natural disaster, I am somewhat sceptical about such conclusions. I would rather lean towards the argument of inequality in the distribution of national wealth, lack of opportunities as well as social and economic discrimination, as a credible explanation for why social unrest and looting take place in some countries following natural disasters.

I would be curious to know whether disaster preparedness includes provisions for prevention and management of social unrest and crime in its aftermath, due to the fact that such preventive measures are indeed long term social and economic policies and reforms which need to take into account sustainable and equitable distribution of national wealth.

Just some thoughts...

Tennis players, wigs and Dubai assassinations: Welcome to the Middle East

In the past few weeks, while people in Europe and the USA have been distracted by Colin Firth's BAFTA award, Charlie Sheen's rehab admission or yet another school shoot-out in America, the Middle East has been passionately embroiled in the unfolding and still mysterious drama of the assassination of Hamas' military commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, suffocated in his hotel room at the luxurious Al-Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (source: Getty)

Almost perfectly planned and what seemed to be a successful assassination, now turns out to be a complete failure by Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency), whose plot has not only been completely uncovered, but its 20 or so agents involved, all identified. And to add even more drama to the story, the identities used by the agents were stolen from existing dual European-Israeli citizens, who for the most, have never set foot in the UAE. While Mossad still denies any involvement in the plot, most analysts in the Arab world, recognise Israel's signature. The European countries, in addition to Australia, whose citizens' identities were fraudulently used, have protested in anger to what is clearly a violation of international law.

The most ironic part of this story has to be CCTV footage of two of the agents, leaving the elevator next to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, minutes before they kill him, dressed in full tennis garb, complete with sweat wrist bans, towels around their neck, a la Roger Federer, tennis balls and new shiny rackets. The British Telegraph newspaper published a few days ago a detailed account of how the Dubai assassination was orchestrated, an interesting read.

While the investigation continues, conspiracy theories abound on Arab TV networks, as is usually the case in a region fraught with suspicion and undercover operations...

To be continued...

Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto: Sense of Taste

The fifth and last sense to be tackled in my series on Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto is

The Sense of Taste

which is probably the most relevant of all senses in our discussion of culinary habits in conflict contexts. Indeed, taste, in my opinion is Mother Nature's most precious gift to us, whereas for the privileged, eating has become an art, rather than simply a means of survival. Food scarcity in some places I have had the chance to work in, has not been an obstacle to people's culinary creativity and their interest in enhancing the taste and aroma of their daily meals. Millions of women living in conflict affected countries toil each day in their kitchens, which for most are either make-shift huts full of smoke or holes in the ground with coal or wood and a metal grill in front of a refugee tent in the many refugee camps scattered around the world.

A few years ago, while distributing food aid in Eastern Congo for an international NGO and in the occupied Palestinian territories (Gaza and West Bank) for the UN World Food Programme, I came to realise how important taste was for both of these populations, despite their many hardships and the obvious struggle for survival. Ensuring that their meals tasted the way they always did, was an important way for them to keep a sense a normalcy and familiarity with their customs and norms, while war ravaged everything around them.

Dried sage leaves (known as maramiyeh in Arabic) which are grown in pots on windowsills in Palestinian houses in Gaza, are added to black tea, as a popular social drink for some Gazan fishermen, who hardly survive on the tiny income they make from the fish trade. They too will receive food aid at some point in their lives, the usual package of which includes chickpeas, oil, sugar and flour. The women soak the chickpeas overnight and then mix the soft chickpeas with tahini, a sesame oil based paste (smuggled through the underground tunnels dug between Gaza and Egypt as the only means to circumvent the Israeli blockade for essential goods), to make hummus.

In 2007, in the Congo, the UN agency assisting refugees, the UNHCR, distributed food parcels mainly to Congolese refugees returning from Zambia and other neighbouring countries, having fled their villages in South Kivu during the fighting between the militia groups and a number of African armies, ten years ago. One Congolese women I saw had walked for 2 days to the distribution site, bare foot. She placed the large white bag of 5 kilos of rice on her head, tightened the cloth that was holding her baby on her back, and turned back, to walk for another 2 days. She wore a t-shift with President Laurent Kabila's face, a t-shirt she most probably received for free during Kabila's campaigning in 2006 for the Presidential elections which took place there. That bag of rice, the cloth around her baby and the free t-shirt, was all she had. While she will simply boil the rice and add some salt (if she is lucky to have received some), other more affluent Congolese enjoy rice with Moambe which is a chicken and palm oil stew, more popular in urban areas, rather than in the poorer villages. The recipe for the Congolese Moambe can be found here.

Palestinian boy at a UN WFP distribution site in Gaza, Palestine in 2005 (a few months before the disengagement of Israeli settlements)

Children of refugees returned to South Kivu in Eastern DR Congo, 2007. Thanks to digital technology, the photo I took of these kids appears instantly on the small screen of my camera, allowing the children to see themselves and their friends, they usually scream of excitement... Wonderful experience.

Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto: Sense of Hearing

In my experience of conflict and post-conflict contexts, sounds and noises are probably what cause most of the fear and anguish. While most of us aid workers and UN officials remain protected from the line of fire of the actual conflict, we spend days and nights close enough to the fighting to hear the gun fire, the RPGs and the ambulances rushing back and forth with the dead or wounded. Our sense of hearing therefore dominating all other senses. In a culinary context, hearing can also influence the other senses and is also subject to cultural differences...

The Sense of Hearing

While Indians wait to hear poppy seeds crackle in the hot oil before adding the rest of the ingredients to curry sauces, the Lebanese listen to the bubbling sound of the water at the bottom of a shisha pipe, as they eat hummus and other mezze. Palestinians enjoy the sound of Turkish coffee being poured into tiny handleless cups while Ugandan children listen to their mothers sing as they pound dried maize into flour, for hours, always at the same rhythm, and always smiling. And while the Congolese dip their fufu into crushed chilli sauce (made from very hot African chillies), you can almost hear their hearts beat from the fire of the spice...

A shisha pipe repairman in Shatila refugee camp, south of Beirut, Lebanon in 2008

Coffee merchant grinding cardamon pods and Costa Rican coffee beans in Nablus, West Bank, Palestine in 2007. The coffee is boiled in metal pots over the fire, constantly turning it to the right consistency, augmented by lots of sugar and poured into small cups, also known as Turkish coffee.

A Ugandan mother digs her field with her children, in Mbale, Eastern Uganda in 2003.

The red roundish ones are the chillies found in the DR Congo... Some of the hottest chillies in the World. The Congolese crush it with garlic and salt and use it as a condiment for fufu or chicken.

Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto: Sense of Smell

The third chapter of this culinary series of eating and cooking in conflict, is dedicated to the

The Sense of Smell

It is quite intriguing how the scent of something can bring back vivid memories of a place or of someone. Smell can enchant or disgust and it can attract or repulse. Smell is also subject to cultural differences. In the DR Congo, locals of its capital, Kinshasa, are delighted by the smell of a caterpillar stew simmering on the fire in their mother's kitchen. The Ugandans thoroughly enjoy the smell of a fresh cob of corn grilling on hot coal infront of houses in the villages. In Palestine, in the Muslim quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinians are enchanted by the aroma of freshly baked knafeh, a sweet made with cheese, shredden Fillo dough, butter and sugar, originally from the city of Nablus in the West Bank. In 2009 the Palestinians set the Guinness record for the world's largest Knafeh (Read article in the Haaretz).

During Ramadan, the Palestinians also enjoy other pastries and sweets such as Qatayef, a small pancake, the smell of which reminds most of the Holy Month approaching. In 2007, a few days before Ramadan, while walking along the walls of the Old City in East Jerusalem, I came across an old man who was preparing Qatayef. He was very keen that I taste these delights and once we had chatted a bit about where I was from and what I was doing there, he handed me one for free, still warm and soft, it was sweet and melted in my mouth.

Nablus, a town which, in addition to being famous for Knafeh, is also home to the most delicious zaatar in the Middle East (dry thyme leaves which are ground with sesame seeds and salt) as well as olive oil produced from hand picked olives in groves which are centuries old. Unfortunately, with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, its imposed curfews, closures and trade blocks, Palestinians struggle to make a living from this production and are unable to export any surplus produce. Furthermore, many olive groves are destroyed by the Israeli army in order to expand the land around illegal settlements, citing security reasons. A few years ago, I often travelled to Nablus from East Jerusalem for the UN, and therefore had the chance to enjoy Nablus' culinary delicacies, the olive oil in particular, which while on the subject of smell, has such an intriguing perfume, that just with a whiff, one can taste it.

Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto: Sense of Sight

The second chapter of Part I of my series on Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto, I will focus on the

Sense of Sight

Sight is associated to each culture's interpretations of esthetics. Only recently did the European Union repeal a 20 year old law which regulated fruits and vegetable sales within the Union, banning 26 types of odd and strangely shaped or discoloured ones! (Read very interesting BBC article on the subject: Click Here). The law basically stipulated that if your carrot was small and had a growth on the side, it was illegal to sell it. In addition to this esthetic absurdity, most fruits and vegetables in European supermarkets, have been coated with wax, giving them a shine, which makes them look like those fake plastic ones which are used for decorating kitchens with Made in China stamps on the bottom. Odd, absurd and frightening...

By contrast, in many developping countries, the more discoloured, deformed and dirty the commodity looks, the better it will sell. My experience in Eastern DR Congo gave me much insight on the cultural differences between "us" and "them" on issues of culinary esthetics.

While working with a humanitarian organisation in the Eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo a few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel throughout the Kivu, mainly South Kivu. A vast terrain bordering Burundi and Tanzania in the East, with Bukavu as its provincial capital, sitting on Lake Kivu. The province has suffered decades of conflict, with hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs. On a sunny day, I was in the town of Uvira, a sprawling city, which grew ten fold in only 2 years due to the return of refugees, during the years of relative stability then. I had the chance to visit the local market there, which, as you can imagine, was busy, smelly and full of flies. While making my way through the many stalls, I came across, what my Congolese colleague wispered to me as, a regional delicacy...

While my European stomach began to quiver, the goat's head's seller, was convincing me to buy it because once cooked, this meat (including the insides of the head and eyes), were deliciously tender and nutritious. Obviously, I kindly declined and went on my way, trying to steer straight through the crowd, until the smell of the meat was well behind me... Back at base however, my curiosity to taste this beast won over my stomach's desperate appeals and I took a bite from the grill, amusing most of the Congolese around me. I had just one thing to say after that: "Absolutely delicious". Teaching me a valuable lesson that "les apparences sont parfois trompeuses".

Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto: Sense of Touch

Away from politics and the struggle against injustice... I thought I would write about another passion of mine: The Art of Cooking.

Living and working in conflict countries, or isolated villages in African jungles... definitely doesn't make that activity one of the easiest which, come to think of it, is what is most challenging and therefore interesting!

From India and Nepal to DR Congo and Uganda, through Palestine and Lebanon, I have had the opportunity to experience how different cultures enjoy food, how they prepare it and how it brings people together in a way which, in my opinion is still highly misunderstood and underestimated by conflict resolution experts.

It is the process of creating something that has the power to arouse all our 5 senses, which is what probably has me hooked. To begin the series of Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto, PART I will be dedicated to these senses: Touch, Smell, Taste, Hearing and Sight.

The Sense of Touch

Most Western cultures have completely lost the concept of touching food. Indeed, we hold on to metal instruments to lift the food from our plates to our mouthes, and the process ends there. At a young age, our parents make sure to teach us that touching food is bad and we get punished when, rebellious, we attempt to grab the stuff to lick it off our fingers.

On a moonlit evening in mid-June 2001, (15 days after the massacre of the Nepali Royal Family by the Crown Prince, in a Romeo and Juliette style drama of impossible love and feuding families), I sat on the floor of a mud and brick built kitchen with a family of 3 generations in a small village just outside Kathmandu. The dinner was being served by the grandmother and her daughter, assisted by her two granddaughters. The grandfather had slaughtered a small chicken in honour of my visit. The meal consisted of basmati rice (baht), lentils (dal) and the most tender chicken I have ever eaten in my life, cooked in a curry sauce, with crushed chillies and garlic. The plate now infront of me, legs crossed, sleeves up, all eyes on me to dig in first, I akwardly and with perfect clumsiness, scooped some dal baht in my right hand (the left hand being considered less clean, used for purposes which are outside the realm of the subject of this posting), and brought it all up to my mouth, praying for some divine intervention so it does not fall down onto my lap. The giggles of the children was proof enough of how ridicule their honoured guest must have appeared to them. Once I had chewed and swallowed my first mouthfull of the little food I did manage to salvage, the family took their eyes off me and started eating. With much relief, this gave me an opportunity to practice the art of hand eating, and after multiple attempts, I began to master it. From discomfort and clumsiness, it became pure joy and fun. The synergy that is created between you and the food, when you are using your hands, cannot be explained in words. It can only be experienced.

Green and red lentils, the staple food for most South Asians. Delicious and wonderfully nutritious

Indian Basmati Rice has the most enchanting almost nutty flavour

The Never Before Campaign for Palestine

A Lebanese colleague of mine, who is passionate about the cause for Palestine, runs a campaign called "The Never Before Campaign for Palestine" which has produced some brilliant short video montages, all posted on You Tube (Click here).



According to the campaign mission statement:

"The Never-Before-Campaign for Palestine is a Beirut-based campaign launched by individuals of different professional backgrounds, including sociologists, political scientists and communications experts.

The Never-Before-Campaign calls for a new approach to support Palestine, and its people, their cause and their resistance movements. This new approach veers away from the traditional competitions for victim-hood which usually seek to elicit the worlds pity. Pity only yields sympathy.

For decades, Palestinians have been treated, at best, as poor unfortunate beings who might deserve charity and maybe some humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, Israel decides, at its own leisure, which bits of the usurped rights to give back.

The Campaign aims at commanding respect. The world does not respect the meek, rather the powerful and the confident. The Palestinian people are victims here, but they are also resilient and determined. The Campaign seeks to communicate this image to the world.

In addition, the image of resistance, that has been suppressed for fear of being confused with terror, is also and integral part of the campaign. No cosmetics, no facades. A masked gunman is the current image of the Palestinian resistance, whether we like it or not. It is this masked freedom fighter facing the might of the Israeli army that makes us proud. The campaign does not succumb to Western sensitivities of the post 9-11 era.

The West and the whole world are at fault here, not the Palestinian people or the resistance movements. The Campaign addresses that issue: Palestine will not wait for Western remorse that always comes too late, such as for the Holocaust, Rwanda and South Africa.

The Campaign recognizes growing awareness about the Palestinian cause all over the world and builds on it. It targets different sets of audiences at the same time.

The Never Before Campaign has no political or religious affiliation, it only has one enemy. All those fighting for the same cause are allies to the Campaign. Our purpose is to make those allies as numerous as possible and to share the credit with them once our cause is victorious."