Belarus (Brussels Morning Newspaper), Nearly 282 million people around the world face acute food insecurity. The most insecure regions currently are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Ukraine, and the Gaza Strip.
Democratic Republic of Congo has relived two civil wars on its territory. The First Congo War started after millions of Hutu refugees fled to DRC from Rwanda, where a genocide against the Tutsi population took place in 1994. Right after the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the government of Rwanda, it started its involvement in the First Congo War fighting with the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seco. Although the war ended with the victory of the Rwanda-led coalition and the establishment of the new government, another civil war broke out in Congo a year later.
This time, the Second Congo War was a campaign against the Rwandan influence in the Congo region organized by the new president Laurent Kabila. The war ended with Kabila’s assassination in a coup d’etat attempt and his son Joseph Kabila took over. Both conflicts brought an enormous humanitarian catastrophe to the state with thousands killed and millions internally displaced. After the peace was finally reached, another problem appeared in the country enriched in diamonds, untapped gold, and other rare minerals used in the production of electronics.
International mining companies and militia groups began their fight for the control of the state’s natural resources with the use of child labor in the mining industry, which resulted in more instability in the region. Several humanitarian missions have been sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to stabilize the situation in the region UN Peacekeeping Mission MOUSCO has been established, however, after more than two decades of the mission, the international community has started to doubt the effectiveness of the operation.
Millions of people in the country are still suffering extreme poverty, food insecurity, violence, and other atrocities. Over 1,5 mln people are internally displaced persons and more than 20 mln people are facing food insecurity.
Nigeria, in turn, has a long history of coup d’etats, which led to several civil wars on its territory. In 1966 one of the first post-colonial coup d’etats emerged in Nigeria, when rebellious soldiers killed several high-profile politicians, including the Prime Minister. The General Officer of the Nigerian Army has been falsely accused of military overthrow participation, while rebels have been capturing one city after another. Subsequently, thousands of civilians and soldiers were killed causing the beginning of the Nigerian Civil War. The proclamation of independence by the rich in oil Western part of Nigeria, the Republic of Biafra, made the internal situation much more complex to resolve.
Although the war ended with the surrender of Biafra forces, the Biafra Republic is fighting for its independence till nowadays. At the same time, Nigeria has been involved in a series of external conflicts, including the Chadian-Libyan conflict, the Sierra Leone Civil War, insurgency in Maghreb and Somali Civil War. All these actions could not pass without a trace. Consequently, Nigeria is currently dealing with a variety of issues, such as the complicated humanitarian crisis in its northeast, number of internal conflicts, and several development shortfalls. Over 4,8 mln people are at risk of hunger, the number of food-insecure persons has increased by 11,6% compared to year 2023.
Sudan has been struggling to maintain peace in the region several years after its independence in 1955. Sudanese fourth head of state Gaafar Nimeiry, which came to power after a military coup in 1969, has established Islamist, socialist, Pan-Arabist policies, which exacerbated tensions between the Islamic North and Christian South. The differences in the culture, language, religion and political aspirations between the two regions resulted in a civil war.
The war ended with the separation of South Sudan in 2011 and major oil reserves (around 75%) has been left its territory. North Sudan, a region which has been already suffering a humanitarian catastrophe, has faced extensive human rights abuses, persecution of minorities, involvement in global terrorism and ethnic genocide in Darfur by the government of Omar al-Bashir, who has been ruling the country for more than two decades. In the year 2019 a coup d’etat erupted in Sudan, which resulted in the Omar al-Bashir’s imprisonment and the beginning of the civil war between the two main Sudanese rival fractions, which continues to this day. More than 25 mln people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Even before the conflict, more than 15 mln people has been facing severe food insecurity. As the conflict continues, this number is expected to increase.
Afghanistan has been a strategic region by both the Soviet Union and the United States during the cold war. With more than 1,400 mineral fields, Afghanistan became an important point on the map of Soviet influence. Starting from the 1979, the state has been a field of insurgences and foreign invasions. In 1979 Afghanistan has faced an invasion of the Soviet Union on its territory with Soviets’ withdrawal in 1989.
In 2001, after the World Trade Center terrorist attack, US government started a “war of terror” on the territory of Afghanistan with the goal to dismantle Al-Qaeda and to topple the Taliban government. After the overthrow of Taliban government, US forces stayed in the country in order to persecute the Al-Qaeda representatives, including its leader Osama bin Laden. Although, the assassination of Osama bin Laden by US special operation forces took place in the year 2011, the US-led forces have not been able to eliminate the Taliban, that is why the war turned into diplomacy and gradual withdrawal of the forces. Last US troops left Afghanistan in 2021, right after that Taliban took over. The new government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has greatly restricted human rights in the country, including the right of women and young girls to have access to education and work. More than 49% of the population lives below poverty line and only 28% has access to clean drinking water.
Yemen has been experiencing political unrest since 2011. The tensions have been characterized by public demonstrations against corruption, unemployment, poverty, and President Saleh’s proposal to change Yemen’s constitution to remove the term limit for the presidency. By 2015, the nation was engulfed in a civil war in which several organizations, including the internationally recognized government’s Presidential Leadership Council, the Supreme Political Council of the Houthi movement, and the separatist Southern Movement’s Southern Transitional Council, were fighting for control of the country. There is currently a serious humanitarian crisis as a result of this conflict, which has escalated to include multiple foreign powers.
Main reason for the food insecurity in the regions is the damage to the agricultural sector caused by the Russian-Ukraine conflict and internal conflicts taking place in the countries. Supply chains are interrupted or even stopped to some countries. In the case of Ukraine, it is the environmental damage from bombing and shelling, affecting the fertility of the land. However, there was an improvement of the situation in Ukraine. There, about seven million people suffered from acute food insecurity this year comparing to nearly nine million a year earlier.
In case of Gaza, its entire population has experienced severe food insecurity in 2023. The inhabitants encounter frequent malnourishment due to extremely restricted food options, along with a rise in hunger-related deaths. The third of Gaza’s population suffers from complete starvation, meaning they have no access to food at all. The incident is connected to Israel’s campaign against Hamas.
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