The number of acutely malnourished children has increased by 34 percent compared with last year, a United Nations report says. Acute malnutrition is rapidly escalating in Yemen, with famine looming in four districts, United Nations experts have said. A report published on Sunday by the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Technical Group in Yemen, covering areas under government control, said the most critical cases are emerging along the war-torn country’s Red Sea coast. Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arabian Peninsula, has been ravaged by years of war between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthis. The conflict, which has stalemated for years, has caused economic collapse and precipitated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The IPC report said malnutrition rates have significantly worsened due to a combination of factors including the spread of diseases such as cholera and measles, a shortage of nutritious food, a lack of drinking water, and broader economic decline. The number of acutely malnourished children has increased by 34 percent compared with last year, the report said, including more than 18,500 children under five who are projected to be severely malnourished by the end of this year. Some 223,000 pregnant and lactating women are also expected to be malnourished in 2024. All 117 districts in government-controlled areas are expected to suffer from “serious” levels of acute malnutrition, it said. Among them, four districts – Mawza and al-Makha (Mocha) in Taiz province, and Hays and Khawkhah in Hodeidah province – are projected to slip into famine between July and October this year. A famine is declared in an area when one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation and destitution that would ultimately lead to critical levels of acute malnutrition and death. 'Wake-Up Call' The IPC, a global partnership of 15 UN agencies and humanitarian organisations, has emphasised the urgent need for increased support and intervention to mitigate the impact of the crisis. “These findings should be a wake-up call that lives are at stake,” said Pierre Honnorat, the World Food Programme director in Yemen. “It is critical to step up support to the most vulnerable who could sink deeper into food insecurity and malnutrition if current low levels of humanitarian funding persist.” The report does not provide details on recent deaths from severe hunger nor on the situation in Houthi-held areas. The rebels have in recent months launched a crackdown on UN agencies and aid groups, detaining dozens of workers. About half of the country’s population – or 18.2 million people – are in need of humanitarian aid this year, according to the UN. Houthi forces hold most large urban centres of Yemen including the capital Sanaa while the Saudi-backed government is based in Aden in the south. The Riyadh-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression. The war in Yemen has sin ce killed more than 150,000 people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

Over the past year, MSF teams have helped Abiy Adi Hospital in the Tigray region of Ethiopia slowly recover from the impacts of war and improve its capacity to provide care. After increasing capacity and improving conditions at Abiy Adi Hospital in the Tigray region of Ethiopia , Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) concluded activities at the facility this month. MSF will now focus on assessing and supporting health facilities in other areas in the country where needs may be greater. “We started by supporting the emergency department, then pediatrics , then neonatal intensive care and maternity ,” said Mulugeta Abreha, MSF nursing team supervisor. “This was at a time when the hospital didn't even have gloves, and many people were dying due to lack of medical equipment.” The Impact of the War on Health Care Access in Tigray The town of Abyi Adi is a large population center in the middle of Tigray, a region in Ethiopia that has experienced war in recent years. The two-year Tigray conflict—characterized by extreme violence, widespread looting, and massive displacement—resulted in the near-total collapse of the health care system. Health facilities lacked medical supplies, biomedical equipment, and health workers, and what health workers were available were often unpaid. The Abiy Adi General Hospital was left barely functional. We started by supporting the emergency department, then pediatrics, then neonatal intensive care and maternity. This was at a time when the hospital didn't even have gloves, and many people were dying due to lack of medical equipment. Mulugeta Abreha, MSF Nursing Team Supervisor “We started providing health services in Abiy Adi district through mobile outreach clinics for the first time in March 2023,” said Abreha. “In April, we began supporting the hospital, which at the time was experiencing a high number of mass casualties that it could not handle. The hospital had only one doctor, and other staff were working without pay.” Supporting A Weakened Health System From March 2023 until July 2024, Doctors Without Borders rehabilitated several key departments in Abiy Adi General Hospital: the emergency room, which received 15,424 patients until end of June 2024; the neonatal intensive care unit, which treated 896 newborns in that time; the pediatrics department and inpatient therapeutic feeding center, where 1,280 children were treated; and the maternity department, in which 4,864 consultations were held between March 2023 and July 2024. This year, the facility’s laundry room, waste zone, and surgical and medical wards were also rehabilitated, and biomedical equipment was donated. MSF also rehabilitated two maternity wards in Gororo and Arena Health Centers last year, and provided primary health care services in six health centers in rural areas around Abiy Adi including more than 32,000 outpatient consultations. Nutritional outreach activities were also carried out to provide basic medical care for children under five years old who have malnutrition .  In addition to bolstering health care, MSF teams supported displaced people living in four overcrowded camps where conditions were poor. Our teams provided mental health care , psychosocial support sessions, and health promotion activities, focusing on malaria prevention, breastfeeding, and personal hygiene. Meeting Basic Needs to Improve Mental Health The war in Tigray has had a significant impact on people’s mental health. “There are about three attempted suicide cases in the emergency room per week now,” said Birhan Seyhoum, MSF mental health supervisor in Abiy Adi. “They suffer because they had to flee their homes, because of lack of food, [and] because many family members are missing.” This is a post-war society. We can’t start working deeply on mental health if we don’t have the basics to survive like water and food.  [So] we did some advocacy work to get access to water in Lisanu camp, [and] when we finally achieved [this], people started talking to me during my sessions. Birhan Seyhoum, MSF Mental Health Supervisor Seyhoum said that when he started working in the camps for displaced people, they didn’t even have water. “This is a post-war society. We can’t start working deeply on mental health if we don’t have the basics to survive like water and food. We did some advocacy work to get access to water in Lisanu camp, [and] when we finally achieved [this], people started talking to me during my sessions.”  Seyhoum also provides mental health sessions for staff from the Ministry of Health as well as MSF colleagues working at the hospital. His goal is to increase motivation among the hospital’s staff, to remind them about the importance of including mental health in everyday health care and ensuring continuity of care after MSF leaves the hospital. “We use the term positive infection in the mental health department. In our sessions in the hospital, we discuss how to make positive ideas viral with doctors, nurses, paramedics—and also with housekeepers, watchmen, and logistics staff, because a doctor alone can’t achieve what we, all together, can achieve.” “I feel privileged to be able to save lives,” said Seyhoum, “but I worry about what will happen in the community, [as] mental health will become a burning issue.” Donating Blood to Save Lives A series of blood donation campaigns was implemented in collaboration with Axum Blood Bank, running once a month from May 2023 to June 2024. Tigray, like most of Ethiopia, is experiencing a shortage in blood reserves caused by diverse and interlinked factors. Up to 50 percent of blood is collected in schools and colleges, however in conflict-affected areas, schools are closed--reducing the main source of blood collection. In leaving health care facilities barely functional, the conflict in Tigray and other regions of Ethiopia has made the collection, processing, and distribution of blood more difficult.  At the same time, due to the insecurity and destruction of health facilities, women who are about to give birth often arrive at hospitals late, increasing the likelihood of complications that require blood transfusions.  Another factor contributing to the exhaustion of blood reserves and the high demands the unprecedented rate of malaria, since anemia is one of the main complications of the disease. Between January and June 2024, over 3 million people contracted malaria throughout the country—nearly reaching the total number of infections during the whole of 2023, according to the Ethiopian Health Cluster. To raise awareness and increase participation in blood donation, MSF set up a storytelling school club with youth and community leaders in Abiy Adi. Sharing positive experiences through storytelling helped to break the stigma and taboos about blood donation, encouraging people to participate in the campaign. These joint efforts mobilized people to donate 517 units of blood, saving more than 500 lives. “We're very happy to see Abiy Adi General Hospital recover over the past 17 months, to the point where patients are able to access most services here again,” said Prue Coakley, MSF deputy head of mission in Ethiopia. “[While] we’ve been working alongside the Ministry of Health in the hospital, we’ve also been able to implement activities specifically designed for this context within the community--such as mental health sessions in camps for internally displaced persons and blood donation campaigns, in addition to capacity building for Ministry of Health staff.” “We hope to see all the activities we’ve been supporting continue and further evolve to meet the needs of people in Abiy Adi and Tigray more generally,” Coakley added.  Our Work in Ethiopia MSF continues to work in many parts of Ethiopia, including Tigray, Afar, Oromia, Amhara, Gambella, South Ethiopia, and Somali region, and we continue to adapt our activities to changing needs in different parts of the country and to respond to emergencies such as disease outbreaks. MSF first was present in Abiy Adi at beginning of the war in northern Ethiopia, until the tragic incident of June 24, 2021, in which our colleagues Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael, María Hernández Matas, and Yohannes Halefom Reda were brutally murdered . In March 2023 MSF returned to Abiy Adi to support the rehabilitation of Tigray’s health care system which was deeply disrupted by the conflict. © Médecins Sans Frontières 2024

By Bhaswati Bhattacharjee PSC hold a virtual meeting on Sudan on November 15, 2023 The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council convened a virtual meeting on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing crisis in Sudan. The meeting, held at the level of foreign ministers, was attended by representatives from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. This meeting aligns with the AU’s efforts to implement a comprehensive roadmap endorsed last May, which emphasizes an African-led and Sudanese-owned approach to resolving the crisis. In a briefing on the recent round of ceasefire talks in Jeddah, Workneh Gebeyehu IGAD Executive Secretary and co-facilitator urged for an immediate ceasefire to end the violence. He further called for international support for the ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability to Sudan. Mike Hammer, U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and co-facilitator of the Jeddah process, also briefed the meeting on the discussions between the warring parties. The U.S. State Department reiterated its commitment to working closely with the AU to end the fighting in Sudan and support a Sudanese civilian-led process to restore Sudan’s democratic transition. Sameh Shoukry Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed the need for coordination between effective international and regional efforts to resolve the crisis. He also underscored the initiative of Sudan’s neighbouring countries, noting their unique understanding of the complexities of the crisis and their strong desire to end it. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shakhbout bin Nahyan called for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution between the belligerents. He also emphasized the importance of supporting the political process and achieving national consensus towards forming a transitional government. The meeting, which took place 24 hours before a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan, was chaired by Mahmoud Ali Youssef, Djibouti Foreign Minister and PSC Chairman. AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Bankole Adeoye also participated in the meeting. The AU has been criticized for its perceived lack of a clear and articulated position on ending the Sudanese conflict. However, together with the United Nations, the AU developed a roadmap to end the conflict and established the Expanded Mechanism, which brings together Peace and Security Council (PSC) member states, Sudan’s neighbours, and international partners. However, the Expanded Mechanism has not officially met since May 31. Additionally, due to various reasons, Sudanese stakeholders have expressed dissatisfaction with the appointment of an AU diplomat close to the AU Commission chairman but at odds with them to oversee the Sudanese file. For its part, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) created a roadmap and formed a quartet group headed by the Kenyan president, a move that was opposed by Sudan’s military leadership. During a visit to Nairobi last Monday, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, agreed with Kenyan President William Ruto to hold a summit for IGAD leaders on Sudan. Copyright @ 2021 | Sudan Tribune. All rights reserved.

Source: Getty Images By Bekir Hodzic Benin, formerly Dahomey, gained independence from France in 1960. While initially a one-party socialist state, Benin transitioned to a democratic multiparty republic in 1989. Until 2016, Benin was one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Since 2016, an increasingly unstable political environment has led to human rights abuses and the potential for ethnic violence.   In 2018, the government passed the Digital Code  which restricts freedom of expression by criminalizing “false information” published online. The Digital Code has been used to silence opposition to President Patrice Talon.   2018 presidential candidate Reckya Madougou was arrested and detained, removing any significant opposition to Talon’s re-election as President. In December 2021, Madougou was convicted and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on charges of terrorism  and plotting to assassinate political figures, despite a lack of evidence against him.   Arbitrary arrests have accompanied growing reports of corruption  in the government and the judicial system, despite creation of a High Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.    Since 2021, Benin has suffered at least twenty attacks by al-Qaeda linked armed groups, such as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). The government has increased arrests by Benin police based on presumed ethnic affiliation with armed groups.   70% of Benin women experience gender-based violence (GBV) during their lifetimes. In 2021 a law was promulgated that expands punishments for GBV.  Child marriage is common with 30.6%  of girls married under 18. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a widespread practice.   The 2018 penal code , decriminalized same-sex relationships. However, violence against LGBTQ+ individuals remains high. In April 2021, three transgender women were forced to undress, then beaten and robbed by a group of men in Cotonou. On another occasion, a transgender woman was beaten by police with sticks and machetes , stripped naked, and detained for three days, while deprived of clothes and food. This violence against LGBTQ+ individuals violated Articles 15 and 18 of the 1990 Benin Constitution.   Due to arbitrary arrests and violence against LGBTQ+ persons, Genocide Watch considers Benin to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 4: Dehumanization, and Stage 8: Persecution.     Genocide Watch Recommends: -Benin should enforce Law no. 2003-03 prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation. -Benin should educate its police to stop violence against LGBTQ+ individuals. -Benin should prosecute attacks against political opponents and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Genocide Watch By Bhaswati Bhattacharjee “They were barbaric. They took turns raping me under the tree where I had gone to gather wood to [make a fire to] keep warm,” said Kolthoum (name changed), a Masalit woman in her 40s from West Darfur, in a confidential interview with BBC  in July 2023. She identified her assailants as soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF were formerly known as the Janjaweed , Sudanese government-supported Arab militias that committed the Darfur genocide from 2003 – 2020.  The RSF is in a civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces for control of all of Sudan. The RSF has again focused its genocide on Darfur. Its goal is the same: to drive black Africans out of Darfur and to replace them with Arabs. Between April and September 2023, 136 reported cases of rape  against Darfuri girls and women have been well-documented. Most were committed by the RSF militia. However, unlike Kolthoum, most survivors are not willing to come forward and share their stories. Hala al-Karib, a Sudan-based researcher and activist , says: “Some (survivors) do not want to speak about it. Some felt that they would rather go into hiding. Very few have elaborated on what has happened to them.” As Sulima Ishaq, the head of Combating Violence against Women and Children, says, “Many survivors have fled to Chad . That prevents them from reporting the crimes against them. They often cannot get sufficient medical care  in Sudan. That pushes them to seek help in neighboring countries.” Rape is being used in Sudan as a weapon of war  to terrorize  the people into fleeing. There is total impunity for the rapists. The number of women assaulted is certainly much higher  than the number of women who report being raped. Rampant use of rape during genocides and wars has long been well-known. Sudanese government-backed militia, Janjaweed ,  used mass rape during the Darfur genocide (2003-2020). Despite more than 9,000 reported cases of rape , few survivors’ testimonies are available. Does fear of stigma and ostracism keep survivors from sharing their stories? Or is survivors’  silence due to the interminable system of collecting testimonies without any prosecutions? Bailey Fairbanks, in a 2019 paper , draws parallels from the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR). Fairbanks says “since these precedents were set, prosecutors have not used them to prosecute similar crimes in other times of genocide….Although we have since seen examples of mass sexual violence during genocide in places like Darfur, rape has not been prosecuted on the same scale as in Bosnia or Rwanda” (Bailey 109). Even in the ICTY and ICTR, prosecutions of the perpetrators of sexual violence  were far fewer than the numbers of rapes committed. When Lisa Pruitt, a gender consultant, investigated cases of sexual violence in the Rwandan Genocide, she was told by the other investigators: “Well, we can’t be concerned about some women who got raped…. We had a genocide down here” [quoted in Our Bodies, Their Battlefield  (2020) by Christina Lamb, pg 135). Despite UN Resolution 1820  “to protect civilians from sexual violence,” the International Criminal Court’s track record in prosecuting cases of sexual violence in war zones  reveals near indifference. The complexity of documenting and proving sexual violence  in conflict zones has proven to be a formidable obstacle. An acute scarcity of specialized investigators results in a failure to bring the sufferers’ stories to light. Samuel Totten, for his 2011 book An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide , interviewed twenty survivors of the Darfur genocide. Among them, only one survivor spoke about the sexual abuse she had suffered. She told Totten: “I have nothing more to say, but I thank you for coming and listening to my story. We want to explain our stories, but no one comes. Thank you so much for coming and listening. I am pleased to [have] explained my story to you. It’s what I wanted.” (Totten 101). Provided with required security, anonymity, and compassion, perhaps survivors of rape would be more willing to share their stories with the world. But is the world willing to listen?

An Analysis Based on the “Ten Stages of Genocide” By Bhaswati Bhattacharjee Families escaping Ardamata in West Darfur cross into Adre, Chad, after a wave of ethnic violence, November 7, 2023. Survivors recounted executions and looting in Ardamata, which they said were carried out by RSF and allied Arab militias. © 2023 REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig The conflict in Sudan, marked by widespread violence, systemic human rights abuses, and potential acts of genocide, has largely been overshadowed by global attention to other crises. Yet, the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Sudan demands urgent and sustained international focus. This special report brings to light the severity and intricacies of the situation in Sudan, emphasizing the genocidal acts against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities. By applying Dr. Gregory H. Stanton's ten stages of genocide model, the report offers a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing atrocities. Adam Mousa Obama, from the group Darfur Victim Support, said, “There is a genocide going on in West Darfur.” In the words of Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, “risks of genocide and related atrocity crimes in the region remain grimly high.” It serves as a crucial call to action for the international community to recognize, intervene, and prevent further escalation of the violence. Without such documentation and advocacy, the plight of the Sudanese people risks being neglected, allowing the cycle of violence and impunity to continue unchallenged. This report aims to break this cycle, urging decisive action to protect vulnerable populations and ensure justice for the victims. In July 2023 and October 2023, Genocide Watch declared that a genocide was being committed against the Masalit by the RSF in West Darfur. Genocide Watch issued Genocide Emergency Alerts. Genocide Watch called for re-establishment of an armed UN/AU Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur, Sudan to stop the genocide. The report begins with highlighting the urgent need for global attention to the conflict, particularly the atrocities against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the conflict, which erupted on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in thousands of deaths and massive displacement. Chapter 2 delves into the historical background of Sudan’s civil wars and the formation of the RSF. Chapter 3 discusses the genocidal actions of the RSF against ethnic groups in Darfur, applying Dr. Gregory H. Stanton’s ten stages of genocide to the current situation. Chapter 4 calls for international action, including expanded humanitarian aid, robust peacekeeping missions, and sanctions against enablers of the conflict. The report aims to raise awareness and mobilize a decisive global response to stop the unfolding genocide in Sudan.

Before being prohibited last month, few Germans had heard of Compact. Now it claims ‘everyone wants a copy’ By Guy Chazan | Financial Times | August 16, 2024 Compact magazine’s website © Library of Congress What was supposed to be a decisive blow against right-wing extremism ended up as yet another setback for the German government — the latest in a long line of judicial defeats that have badly damaged its credibility. Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser last month banned Compact, a controversial nationalist magazine she called a “central mouthpiece of the extreme right-wing scene”. But on Wednesday a top court overturned the ban — and Compact was allowed to resume publication. The ruling is an embarrassing blow for a government that has identified far-right extremism as the greatest threat to German democracy — and is determined to root it out. Wednesday’s judgment, by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, has discredited those efforts. Faeser was unrepentant on Thursday. “We will not let up in our fight against the enemies of the constitution,” she said. The interior minister, who is a leading light in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic party, quickly came under a hail of criticism. Many saw the government’s legal setback as a gift to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had spoken out forcefully against the ban. The verdict came just weeks ahead of critical regional elections in three eastern states that are AfD strongholds. “The worst thing is she’s performing as the best campaigner for the AfD,” said Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy leader of the FDP, the smallest party in Scholz’s coalition. “Frau Faeser should go and think about whether she really wants to continue campaigning for the Alternative for Germany.” Jürgen Elsässer, Compact’s founder and editor-in-chief, said the ruling was a “victory of David over Goliath, it was a victory of democracy over dictatorship and it was a victory of the people over the regime”. This is not the only defeat Scholz’s government has suffered in the courts. Last year the constitutional court struck down its budget, saying it violated Germany’s strict rules on debt. Last month the court scrapped part of Scholz’s reform of the country’s electoral laws. But Faeser’s travails point to a wider problem: the difficulty democratically elected governments have in striking a balance between cracking down on extremist views and protecting fundamental rights enshrined in their constitutions. The EU is stuck on the horns of just such a dilemma. Last month the European Commission charged Elon Musk’s X with allegedly ignoring EU law by allowing disinformation and illegal hate speech on the platform. Brussels has also begun proceedings against Meta and TikTok. But internal market commissioner Thierry Breton came under fire this week after he posted a letter online ahead of Musk’s interview with US presidential candidate Donald Trump, threatening the “full use” of sanctions if Musk failed to curb “illegal content” on X. Critics said the letter, which was not agreed with other commissioners in advance, played into claims made by Musk and the Trump campaign that Brussels was trying to meddle in the US election. Jürgen Elsässer, Compact’s founder and editor-in-chief, said the ruling was a ‘victory of David over Goliath’ © Swantje Stein/Reuters When Faeser banned Compact in mid-July, hundreds of policemen raided its offices and impounded documents and computers. The homes of its editors and publishers were also searched. Faeser said at the time that authorities were targeting the “intellectual arsonists that incite a climate of hatred and violence against refugees and migrants and want to overthrow our democratic state”. Interior ministry officials said the magazine spread “conspiracy theories and content that was antisemitic, racist, historically revisionist and anti-minority”, and claimed several Compact employees had links to the far-right extremist party “Die Heimat” (Homeland) — a successor to the neo-Nazi NPD. However, Faeser was widely criticised at the time for banning the association of the same name that publishes Compact rather than the magazine itself — an approach some legal experts said was questionable and could backfire. But things got much worse for her on Wednesday when the Leipzig court issued an interim injunction suspending the ban until a final verdict is reached in the case. The judges expressed doubts about whether the move against Compact was proportionate. Some of the articles it published were clearly unconstitutional, they said, but a lot were “unobjectionable”. Faeser could have taken “less severe measures” than banning it outright, the judges added. The interior ministry has maintained that the material it presented to the court had proven that Compact was “anti-constitutional, aggressive and militant” and said it would “substantiate its claim” in further proceedings. Free speech advocates have been dismayed by the injunction. “It’s a double defeat,” Miko Beuster, head of the German Journalists Association, said on German radio. “It’s a defeat because the people who actually want to abolish our democracy are the ones celebrating. And it’s also a defeat because it’s destroyed trust [in the system].” “If you ban something like this, it has to hit home — but this ban missed its target,” he added. Prior to the ban Compact was available online, in newsagents and in bookstores and had a circulation of about 40,000. But the magazine has long been in the crosshairs of Germany’s law enforcement agencies. With its mixture of salacious gossip, diatribes against immigrants, climate denial and Covid-19 scepticism, the magazine is seen as a mainstay of Germany’s Neue Rechte or alt-right. It carried columns by Martin Sellner, an Austrian ethno-nationalist ideologue who held secret meetings with AfD officials late last year to discuss the mass deportation of migrants. During the refugee crisis of 2015-16, during which many Syrians came to Germany, one Compact writer accused the government of “systematically flooding Germany and mixing its genes with foreign cultures in order to reduce the general IQ of the population”. A recent cover story was titled “War criminals: how German generals are planning an attack on Russia”. Another praised Maximilian Krah, the AfD politician accused of close ties to China and Russia, with the headline: “How patriots are slandered as traitors”. Editor-in-chief Elsässer wrote on Compact’s website in June 2023: “We simply want to overthrow the regime.” He later claimed his aim in doing this was to “restore Germany’s liberal democratic order”. He has also written about the alleged existence of a “globalist moneyed aristocracy” of “bloodsuckers” linked to the Rockefellers and Rothschilds — claims seen by experts as classic antisemitic tropes. Once considered by many a dangerous radical, Elsässer is now revelling in his newfound fame: “Before Faeser’s attack, maybe 2mn Germans knew us — now it’s 60mn,” he said. “Everyone wants a copy.” © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2024

Up to 400 people with radical right views gathered in opposition to the much larger LGBTQ+ parade held in the eastern German city. Police described "partly aggressive or militant behavior" and the protest was broken up. August 17, 2024 | Deutsche Welle Far-right protesters gathered at Leipzig's main railway station on Saturday | Image: Sebastian Willnow/dpa/picture alliance Neo-Nazis  and far-right extremists staged a short demonstration in the vicinity of a Pride event in Germany's eastern city of Leipzig on Saturday, the second such counterprotest in a week. The march was organized to pass within earshot of the 19,000-strong Pride parade, in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer ( LGBTQ+ ) community. What happened at the far-right gathering? Police said around 300-400 people took part in the rally by supporters of extreme right politics at the city's main railway station under the banner: "Proud, German, National" Several violations of the criminal code and Germany's assembly law were identified, police in the state of Saxony wrote in a thread on X, formerly Twitter. The participants of the far-right rally showed "typical assembly behavior, and partly aggressive or militant behavior" upon arrival, police added. The neo-Nazi rally was dispersed after a short time. Several hundred participants were detained temporarily "to carry out all criminal procedural measures," Saxony police said. The rallygoers were subjected to identity checks and searched for dangerous objects. Pride march draws thousands Meanwhile, Saturday's Pride event in Leipzig drew a crowd of up to 19,000 people, police wrote on X. The attendees gathered in Augustusplatz, a large square in the east end of the city. Senior German politicians and LGBT+ community leaders turned out in support, including Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the Vice President of the Bundestag and the Federal Government's Queer Commissioner Sven Lehmann. Known as Christopher Street Day in Germany, Pride rallies are held in several cities annually to commemorate the civil rights movement that started a decadeslong process to improve LGBTQ rights. Christopher Street is the location of a 1969 civil rights uprising against police discrimination in New York which began at the Stonewall gay bar. An alliance "Leipzig takes a stand" had also registered several counterdemonstrations under the motto "No place for Nazis." Far-right also gathered at Bautzen Pride event earlier in August Last Saturday on August 10, nearly 700 far-right protesters had arranged a march during a Pride rally in Bautzen, a town in the same state of Saxony as Leipzig, sparking a large police presence.  The counterprotest was titled, "Against gender propaganda and identity confusion!" The small right-wing extremist party Freie Sachsen (Free Saxons) also held a protest.  The marches passed off without major incidents or arrests, police said. LGBTQ+ rights are seen as under threat from the rise of the far-right, particularly in three eastern German states, which hold elections to pick their regional lawmakers next month. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on course to make significant gains in Thuringia and Saxony during regional elections on September 1 and in Brandenburg on September 22. The new far-left party of Sahra Wagenknecht, named after the populist lawmaker and a breakaway from the Left Party, will make its electoral debut and is also expected to perform well. © 2024 Deutsche Welle

By Ishaan Tharoor The volume of utterly horrifying stories emerging from Myanmar can feel overwhelming. Since late August, more than 626,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled what seemed to be a systematic campaign of attacks by the Burmese military and local militias in the country's Rakhine state — the most rapid exodus of a community since the Rwandan genocide. An aid group estimated that some 9,000 Rohingya, including 1,000 small children, died between late August and late September. Satellite data showed hundreds of villages burned to the ground, while virtually everyone who escaped to squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh has a horror story to tell. Unforgettable scenes "They shot my old father, they put a log of wood in his mouth and then slit his throat," a woman named Almas Khatun recently told The Sydney Morning Herald. "I keep thinking about my children. I couldn't save them. They killed seven of my children, my husband and his two brothers." She pretended to be dead and managed to later crawl to safety, away from the burning ruin of her village and the corpses of dozens of slain relatives. Last week, an investigation by The Associated Press chronicled what appears to have been a campaign of mass rape carried out by Burmese security forces, based on interviews with 29 women and girls ranging from the ages of 13 to 35. Soldiers and anti-Rohingya vigilantes, they say, engaged in robbery and torture, including abusing and gang-raping the women they captured. "The testimonies bolster the U.N.'s contention that Myanmar's armed forces are systematically employing rape as a 'calculated tool of terror' aimed at exterminating the Rohingya people," the AP wrote. In a Friday column, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times recounted his own conversations with Rohingya women who were raped and had to witness the slaughter of their loved ones. He called on Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's top civilian leader and Nobel laureate, to listen to the story of Hasina Begum, a 21-year-old who saw the men and boys of her village killed, their bodies dumped in a pile, doused in gasoline and set aflame. The women and girls were meant to endure an even grislier fate. "I was trying to hide my baby under my scarf, but they saw her leg," Hasina told Kristof. "They grabbed my baby by the leg and threw her onto the fire." The story goes on: "Hasina said she collapsed on the ground, screaming. The impatient soldiers then began to club her — she showed me scars from the beating — and dragged her into a hut with her sister-in-law, Asma Begum. The soldiers stripped the women naked and raped them, she said, and finally closed the door and set the hut on fire." Nightmares Naked, the two women managed to escape through a hole in the hut, salved their injuries with mud, scavenged clothes and made a three-day trek to the Bangladesh border. "When I fall asleep, I look for my baby," Hasina told Kristof. "I wake up screaming." The violence that prompted these shocking stories has generated plenty of international outrage. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which warned two years ago that conditions in Myanmar, also called Burma, were ripe for genocide, issued a report in November alongside a local rights group saying there was "mounting evidence" that the Burmese military carried out acts that "represent a genocide of the Rohingya people." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described what befell the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing," while various senior U.N. officials have also made similar statements. Yet there has been little genuine action, and not just from the United States. Muslim leaders from Turkey to Malaysia grandstanded for a time about the tragedy befalling their fellow Muslims, but most have moved on. In India, which does have influence over Myanmar, sympathy for the Rohingya played second fiddle to domestic politics, with the country's Hindu-nationalist government moving to deport thousands of Rohingya refugees in the country over concerns about Islamist extremism. And China, which has a close relationship with Myanmar's generals and deep economic interests in the country, has proposed a repatriation plan that would likely shield Myanmar's top brass from further international scrutiny. "The Rohingya are a lesser consideration for Beijing," noted Nicholas Bequelin of Amnesty International in The New York Times. "The returnees would not be allowed to go to their home villages, which have been reduced to ashes, but consigned to grim internment camps. The system of discrimination and segregation that made them so vulnerable in the first place would become further entrenched." The Burmese government certainly seems unmoved. Suu Kyi maintains that Rohingya testimony isn't to be believed on face value and blames local "terrorists" among the Rohingya for provoking the chaos. Her defenders argue that she has to play her own complicated game with the country's overweening military, but her maneuvering still obscures the calamity in Rakhine, which remains almost entirely closed off to independent media. When journalists recently asked a Rakhine official, Col. Phone Tint, about reports of rape, he scoffed. "These women were claiming they were raped, but look at their appearances — do you think they are that attractive to be raped?" he said. The fake-news defense Another senior official from Rakhine, speaking to Hannah Beech of The New York Times, articulated the Burmese government's refusal to even believe in the existence of the Rohingya, a largely Muslim ethnic group that has lived for generations in Myanmar but had its citizenship rights stripped in the 1980s by a military junta. "There is no such thing as Rohingya," he said before parroting President Donald Trump. "It is fake news." That use of the term "fake news" generated a fair bit of controversy, underscoring both Trump's broader appeal to strongmen abroad and his own muted response to the Rohingya crisis. Yet, in this instance, Trump is hardly alone in his indifference. "Crimes against humanity are an offense against all humanity and require a response from all of us," wrote Kristof. But in a year so profoundly steeped in bad blood, that common response is nowhere in sight. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-genocide-rohingya-rapes-myanmar-1219-story.html (c) 2017 The Washington Post

By Issandr El Amrani Tensions are rising in Libya after the de facto ruler of the country’s east, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, publicly dismissed the two-year-old international deal on how Libya should be governed. To neutralise the risk of new conflict, Haftar’s international and regional allies should forcefully condemn his attempt at undermining the UN-led peace process and urge him back to the diplomatic track. The latest row started on 17 December, the second anniversary of the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement (LPA), when Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA) that dominates eastern Libya, announced that he considered the LPA to have expired. As a result, he argued, institutions emanating from the agreement such as the Government of National Accord and Presidency Council headed by Fayez al-Serraj are no longer officially valid. Haftar said that his own LNA is now the “sole legitimate institution” in Libya, and rejected the authority of any government or parliament until new elections can be held. He made his statement after his allies moved to occupy eastern offices of the High National Elections Commission, which is preparing for elections in 2018 with international support. His allies also have made calls for the commission’s staff to be changed and its headquarters moved from Tripoli, the capital. Troubling Ambition Haftar’s announcement was not unexpected. As the ongoing UN-led peace process has drifted since October, when the last round of negotiations to revise the LPA ended inconclusively, he and his allies had repeatedly warned that they consider the agreement close to expiration and that another framework would have to be found. In parallel, Haftar supporters promoted a petition to appoint him as military ruler of Libya, which they claimed garnered over one million signatures. Calls for mass demonstrations in support of Haftar have also spread, although protests largely failed to materialise. Indeed, Haftar’s announcement has had scant impact so far and has not changed the situation on the ground. Politically, Haftar’s moves raise several troubling questions. The first is whether Haftar and the LNA are effectively declaring civilian institutions moot. This has already happened in eastern Libya, where he has bypassed an increasingly defunct eastern government and the House of Representatives (HoR), the parliament based in the town of Tobruk, to which he is allied. The HoR, on 21 November, had endorsed the UN’s proposed action plan for a partial amendment of the LPA, and is supposed to play an important role during the transition to a more permanent arrangement. It is not clear what Haftar’s announcement means for the HoR’s own position, and whether it too has “expired”, since its lifespan was extended by the LPA. ​ The second question is what Haftar and his allies plan to do next, and how their opponents will react. Anticipation of the 17 December announcement, and of an offensive by Haftar’s LNA, has already caused some armed groups from Misrata to mobilise near Sirte. Indeed, worries about a Haftar offensive could also prompt pre-emptive or opportunistic attacks by Haftar opponents, who have previously confronted his forces in the “oil crescent”, an area containing key oil installations in the Gulf of Sirte. This is particularly true in parts of western Libya under the nominal control of militias that broadly accept the legitimacy of the Tripoli-based government but fear that Haftar allies are planning to assert themselves. These include the area around Sabratha that saw fighting in October as well as the capital. Thirdly, many Libyans are wondering how long Haftar can continue to challenge, without any consequences, the international consensus that a political solution to the Libyan conflict must be found. As he acknowledged in his 17 December statement, Haftar has received repeated warnings from the international community against carrying through his threat of declaring the expiration of the LPA and, more generally, undermining UN-led peace efforts. The UN Security Council did so several times in past months, most recently on 14 December, as did the many international and regional states supporting the UN process. Haftar’s closest international supporters, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have reportedly intervened directly with him. Growing Tensions Amid this uncertainty, other developments on 17 December are adding to the confusion. One is the assassination by unknown assailants of Mohammed Eshtewi, the mayor of Misrata. This important city is a dominant military and political actor, and the killing risks widening multiple divisions: between factions that are open to a deal with Haftar and those that reject any compromise with him; between the city’s Municipal Council and its Military Council; and between locals and members of armed groups driven out of Benghazi by the LNA and now based in Misrata. Some residents of Misrata – without any evidence – wonder whether the assassination may have been carried out by Haftar allies, who would stand to benefit from sowing further divisions. Likewise, rumours are circulating that the ex-Benghazi armed groups in the city are planning to take advantage of growing east-west tensions by launching a new offensive on the oil installations of the Gulf of Sirte, currently held by the LNA. Two such previous attempts were repelled. At the same time, Misratan armed groups are reportedly consolidating around Sirte, the city they liberated from the Islamic State (ISIS) a year ago, hoping to pre-empt an attempt by pro-Haftar groups to take it over. And in Tripoli and its environs, the prospect looms of renewed tensions between armed groups that could align with Haftar’s camp and those opposed to him. The Need for a Clear, Unified Response The potential for a new escalation from various camps has increased, not least because Haftar’s declaration has added fuel to Libya’s slow-burning fires. The UN Security Council and states that have supported the peace process have been muted in their response until now. Most actors prefer to avoid comment or merely to reiterate, as did the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Libya, Ghassan Salamé on 17 December, calls that parties to the conflict should “refrain from any actions that could undermine the political process”. Perhaps they calculate that no actual hostile action has been taken and that Haftar’s declaration has been a flop, as some of his opponents argue, and can be ignored. Libyans, however, are watching closely and may interpret this silence as a lack of interest, if not assent. Given that successive efforts by international actors to engage with Haftar in pursuit of a negotiated political settlement have yet again met with his defiance, they should speak out more forcefully and condemn this latest attempt at undermining it. It is particularly important that private frustrations be vented publicly by Haftar’s regional allies, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, who appear to have been snubbed by their client once again, as well as countries such as France and Russia, which have done much to engage with him and push him toward diplomacy over the past year Admonitions may not convince Haftar himself, who appears to be tenaciously clinging to his ambition of becoming either Libya’s military ruler or its next president. But they would signal to other actors that the international community is intent on defending the process that Salamé and others have put in place, whose broad outlines have been accepted by a wide range of Libyans. https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/libya/new-risks-libya-khalifa-haftar-dismisses-un-backed-accord?utm_source=Sign+Up+to+Crisis+Group%27s+Email+Updates&utm_campaign=cc91bb7373-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1dab8c11ea-cc91bb7373-359909997 (c) 2017 international Crisis Group

By Isabelle Arradon A few years ago, a woman in her sixties outside Banda Aceh in Indonesia told me about the rape and other torture she had endured during the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement and the government. Beyond the psychological trauma, her body still suffered from enduring physical pain. Many years on, while the open conflict had ended, she still had not received comprehensive health care and support. Instead, like too many survivors of physical and sexual violence, she was left in a vicious circle of isolation, carrying the burden of stigma and shame. In war and its immediate aftermath, it is easy to forget those who are voiceless or invisible in the public space. Yet, countless reports show that time and again women and adolescent girls are at higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence during and after conflict – putting at risk their reproductive health. With health infrastructure destroyed and information about sexual and reproductive health missing, they may also face a higher risk of dying due to pregnancy-related complications. Maternal death, when a woman dies during pregnancy or in the weeks after, and maternal morbidity, long-lasting health problems during and after pregnancy, rarely feature when we speak about the effects of deadly conflict. Yet, the number of women and girls dying during pregnancy or childbirth is often high in conflict-affected areas, while many suffer from chronic illnesses. Over half of the world’s maternal deaths occur in countries torn apart by armed violence and in fragile states. According to recent estimates, four out of the ten countries with the highest rates of maternal mortality face deadly conflict: the Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Somalia. Two are at risk of deadly violence or civil war: the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. And three others have been marked by devastating wars: Sierra Leone, Chad and Liberia. In Afghanistan, despite years of international aid, the maternal mortality ratio is still at 396 deaths per 100,000 live births or, according to recent studies, possibly twice as high. Each context carries its own dynamics with a set of social, cultural and economic factors at play. Yet, like battlefield deaths, maternal deaths are for the most part preventable. In ways that can be easy to overlook, conflict can exacerbate pre-existing patterns of gender discrimination and inequality, leaving women and girls with few survival options. In the face of extreme hardship, some are forced to marry young, which carries higher health risks, while others may choose to turn to transactional sex, leaving them highly vulnerable to trafficking, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancies. Shortly after the conflict has ended, women and girls also tend to experience higher levels of gender-based and intimate partner violence, which further increase threats to their sexual and reproductive health. Instead of bringing women into the decision-making space, the end of violent conflict can see women – whether they are combatants, survivors, or economic providers – sidelined and blocked from accessing sexual and reproductive health reparations. With the growing number of conflicts around the world, more and more women find themselves trapped in camps for displaced people, where health services – when they exist – are often delayed or disrupted, with limited or infrequent supplies of vital medicines and food. As Crisis Group’s report on Women and the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria illustrated, access to even some of the most basic health services can be dramatically limited. We have called, among other measures, for an expansion and improvement of gender-sensitive aspects of aid programs in all Boko Haram-affected areas. For women living in conflict-affected environments, childbirth can be a particularly dangerous and traumatic experience. Many have to give birth unassisted and in unsanitary conditions, increasing the likelihood of trauma, long-lasting physical illness, and death. In South Sudan, a country devastated by years of war, at least one woman in 28 is likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause. In fragile and conflict-affected environments, where only 65 per cent of births are attended by skilled health professionals, unassisted birth remains one of the main drivers of maternal mortality. Unable to access safe abortion services, many women also resort to unsafe and potentially life-threatening methods to terminate their pregnancies. In the past twenty years, governments, humanitarian actors, and members of the civil society have made tremendous progress in mainstreaming reproductive health into humanitarian responses and legal frameworks. Despite these advances, many gaps remain. To continue making progress, we must recognise the challenge of preventable maternal deaths in conflict-affected areas, and provide adequate sexual and reproductive health information and services to women and girls of all ages. Governments must plan responses to conflict carefully to provide greater say to women. Neglecting these issues can fuel new abuses or prolong pain in Aceh, Nigeria and other conflict-affected societies. https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/hidden-face-war?utm_source=Sign+Up+to+Crisis+Group%27s+Email+Updates&utm_campaign=f0b31910e9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1dab8c11ea-f0b31910e9-359909997 (c) 2018 International Crisis Group

By Jack Losh March 26, 2018 KAGA-BANDORO, Central African Republic — On a dirt track beneath a fierce sun, three U.N. peacekeepers guard the dividing line. On one side of a small bridge lies the rebel stronghold, where gunmen freely roam. On the other is a designated “arms-free zone” on Kaga-Bandoro’s outskirts — a sliver of territory where the “blue helmets” keep the peace and thousands of displaced people shelter around a desolate airstrip. Years of rebellion, mismanagement and sectarian violence have divided this dusty cattle-trading town and roiled the rest of the Central African Republic, leaving the country’s Western-backed government toothless and unable to exert much authority beyond the capital, Bangui. In the absence of an effective government, more than a dozen armed groups and a multitude of local militias have usurped control of about 80 percent of the impoverished former French colony. Hundreds of thousands have been uprooted from their homes, and more than half of the population is in need of humanitarian aid. Kaga-Bandoro has, for years, shunned central authority. But even in this anarchic space, rebels here and elsewhere throughout the country are providing some show of statehood. The ruling militants run customs, charge taxes, give out fines and operate their own gendarmes. “The region has government ministries, but all the staff are in Bangui,” said an aid worker in Kaga-Bandoro who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety. “They get their salary still but can’t do anything here.” These are central Africa’s ministates — overlapping and unrecognized fiefdoms in a Texas-size country riven by disorder, situated in one of the world’s worst neighborhoods. These lawless territories are extremely volatile and controlled by violent groups prone to infighting. With the country surrounded by Islamist insurgencies and other conflicts in Chad, South Sudan and Congo, the spillover from these badlands can fuel — and be fueled by — the region’s chronic instability. Representatives from the Central African Republic’s Defense, Justice and Humanitarian Action ministries did not respond to requests for comment. Today’s vicious turf wars stem from the nationwide outbreak of armed conflict in 2013, when the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power and primarily Christian militias known as anti-Balaka fought back. The violence ebbed with the deployment of international troops, but the crisis has intensified since the Seleka alliance, which lacks a unified hierarchy, disintegrated into competing factions. “The situation is worsening, and armed groups are fighting among themselves,” said Joseph Inganji, who leads the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, in the country. “The conflict is moving into areas that were previously deemed safe.” Kaga-Bandoro, in the country’s north, is held by a group called the Central African Patriotic Movement, or MPC, a former Seleka faction that Human Rights Watch says has razed villages and killed scores of civilians. Militias are drawn to the country’s mineral wealth and the opportunity to levy taxes on huge cattle migrations each dry season. “It is a scramble for riches,” Inganji said. These herds are a literal cash cow for Kaga-Bandoro’s local warlord, Mahamat Alkatim. His forces charge a customs tariff on each head of cattle that enters his domain from Chad. Other fees are taken at unofficial checkpoints. The lucrative trade in bush meat — a vital source of subsistence protein in central Africa — is another profitable target for taxation to prop up a rebel statelet. Exploitation and chaotic rule are nothing new here. France’s imperial authorities resorted to slavery and other brutal measures during the early 20th century to turn a profit in this remote backwater. Long after the Central African Republic gained independence in 1960, French advisers remained in its ministries, overseeing decadent presidents whose repressive rule promised short-term stability but alienated Muslim areas. Porous frontiers allow a free flow of arms and mercenaries. Corruption permeates government institutions. Sex-abuse scandals have marred peacekeeping operations. And ham-handed efforts to demobilize militants have exacerbated the very grievances they sought to resolve. This climate of mistrust and instability continues to segregate the country’s diverse population along ethnic and religious lines. The collapse of institutions has led International Crisis Group analysts to brand the country not just a failed state but a “phantom state.” Within this unwieldy land, rebel groups may well possess tools for military enforcement and economic extraction, but their ministates remain combustible and profoundly limited, lacking reliable public utilities and transparent justice systems. The task of looking after the population’s most basic needs — food, water, sanitation, health care, schooling — is passed to nonprofit groups. For rebels, this is purely an expedient form of outsourcing. “We help the population, but we are only providing security,” said Mahouloud Moussa, an official with another rebel group called the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic, or FPRC, which controls large swaths of the country’s northeast and has an outpost in Kaga-Bandoro. “Everything else is done by humanitarian organizations, so there’s no need for us to do it.” His comments disregard the deadly attacks and financial shortfalls that impede crucial aid operations. Last month, six education workers were killed near the northwestern border with Chad — an impoverished area where about 90,000 civilians have fled a surge in fighting in recent months. Overshadowed by wars in the Middle East, this is a humanitarian crisis in which 1 in 4 people is displaced, with tens of thousands of children severely malnourished. Despite his rebel affiliations, Moussa wears conventional civilian clothes — white polo shirt, black suit trousers, socks with sandals. FPRC fighters are accused of war crimes, but he says they are a force for good. “We are teaching the population about social cohesion and encourage people not to discriminate against others,” he said. People such as Olive Kpadomona would disagree. A mother of five in her early 30s, she lives in a cramped tent with her family, alongside thousands of other internally displaced people on ­Kaga-Bandoro’s edge. Inside her spartan shelter, grubby mattresses are laid on the bare earth. Above, the sky is hazy and gray with dust. Peacekeepers patrol the squalid camp, but fighting still flares between the Muslim rebels outside and the Christian militias within. “I was eight months pregnant when soldiers attacked my village,” Kpadomona said. “They destroyed all the houses. I ran into the forest and came here. This was two years ago. We get some food, but it’s not enough for my children. We live in fear.” Besides the armed authority of rebel groups, there are other, more promising forms of governance in the Central African Republic. The Chinko wildlife reserve — funded by a public-private partnership that includes the Central African Republic’s Environment Ministry, USAID, the African Parks network and the Walton Family Foundation — has managed to bring some stability and development to the unruly southeast. Spanning more than 6,800 square miles, Chinko not only protects an extraordinary mix of wildlife but also offers the trappings of a working state, providing education, health care, law enforcement and an economy. The park funds the salaries of dozens of local teachers and trains its own employees in hygiene, money management and sexual health. Its nurses make visits to nearby communities. Weekly markets supply Chinko’s 450-strong workforce — a boon to this destitute region. A dedicated ranger corps patrols the reserve to combat poaching. “A strong kernel of law enforcement can have a big impact on a larger region of anarchy,” said David Simpson, Chinko’s park manager. “It’s not as if we set out to do all these activities — we’re here for conservation — but when no one else is around, everyone looks to you for help.” Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. © 2018 Washington Post