Forsaken

Having spent a significant portion of my life living in Sierra Leone I find it sickening how the rebel war there, as well as so many other conflicts in Africa, are basically ignored by the rest of the world. I would blame it on the media but they only get part of the blame. They are a business after all and if we as ordinary people cared about these conflicts the media would probably cover them.

It is not just about coverage either. Along with that coverage goes time and money. So governments, institutions, and influential people spend tons of time and money on the most popular contests while the conflicts that have impacted the most people receive hardly any attention.

Some would say that while those smaller conflicts may not have the same number of deaths they still impact far more people. I believe that is true. But why is that? There is something wrong about the way we value people.

Here's some stats I pulled from the Stealth Conflicts website. They have a lot of interesting information there. I like the maps and charts they produce to graphically illustrate the issue. I can't vouch for the accuracy of these numbers but that's kind of the point. We just don't know what we really should know.


Conflict /Death Toll

Democratic Republic of Congo /5,400,000

Southern Sudan /1,200,000

Angola /800,000

Rwanda /800,000

Afghanistan /500,000

Somalia /400,000

Iraq /400,000

Burundi /300,000

Darfur /300,000

Zaire /300,000

Liberia /200,000

Algeria /150,000

Ethiopia-Eritrea /100,000

Chechnya /100,000

Uganda /100,000

Sierra Leone /50,000

Kashmir /50,000

Colombia /50,000

Sri Lanka /50,000

Bosnia-Herzegovina /50,000

Philippines /20,000

Turkey /20,000

Nigeria /20,000

Gulf War /20,000

Azerbaijan /20,000

Bougainville /20,000

Cote d’Ivoire /10,000

Congo, Republic of /10,000

Peru /10,000

Aceh /10,000

Myanmar /10,000

Nepal /10,000

Croatia /10,000

Kosovo /10,000

Kurdish Iraq /10,000

Southern Iraq /10,000

Senegal /< 10,000

Guinea /< 10,000

Chad /< 10,000

Mali /< 10,000

Niger /< 10,000

Central African Republic /< 10,000

Haiti /< 10,000

Mexico /< 10,000

Israel-Palestine /< 10,000

Israel-Lebanon /< 10,000

Yemen /< 10,000

Andrha Pradesh /< 10,000

Gujurat /< 10,000

Northeast India /< 10,000

East Timor /< 10,000

Irian Jaya /< 10,000

Kalimantan /< 10,000

Molucca Islands /< 10,000

Sulawesi /< 10,000

Georgia /< 10,000

Moldova /< 10,000

Northern Ireland /< 10,000