Jordan
Full name: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Population: 6.1 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Amman
Area: 89,342 sq km (34,492 sq miles)
Major language: Arabic
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Jordan dinar = 1,000 fils
Main exports: Phosphates, fertilisers, agricultural products. Unlike other states in the region Jordan doesn’t have its own oil supplies. The economy is largely based on tourism, services and foreign aid.
King: Abdullah II. Crowned in 1999.
Brief political history
Jordan emerged as part of the division of the Middle East by Britain and France post WW1. At the time the population was made up largely of Bedouin tribesmen and followers of the present king’s grandfather. Now however they are outnumbered by the descendants of the thousands of Palestinians who fled to Jordan on the creation of Israel in 1948. Jordan is significant because it is one of the few Middle Eastern countries to have signed a peace accord with Israel, signed in 1994.This, plus the country’s close ties with the US have been unpopular with many Jordanians which has created a complicated political climate within the country. The present king faces the difficult task of maintaining stability and a non-confrontational line regarding international relations, whilst dealing with demands for reform. Jordan’s political stances also leave the country at risk to attacks from militant Islamists, such as the suicide attacks that occurred in the capital in 2005. Jordan currently has a problem with human trafficking and has been criticised for its poor response to solving these problems.
Refugees in Jordan
Jordan also hosts approximately 500,000 refugees from Iraq and King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to visit the country after the 2003 US invasion. Jordan has also accepted just under two million Palestinian refugees fleeing the ongoing violence with Israel.
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UGANDA
Full name: Republic of Uganda
Population: 31.9 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Kampala
Area: 241,038 sq km (93,072 sq miles)
Major languages: English (official), Swahili (official), Luganda, various Bantu and Nilotic languages
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 51 years (men), 52 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Ugandan shilling = 100 cents
Main exports: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea; tobacco, cotton, corn, beans, sesame
President: Yoweri Museveni
Number of IDPs: At least 437,000 (1.3% of total population)
Peak number of IDPs: 1,8 million (2005)
Brief political history:
Uganda achieved independence from British rule in 1962 and immediately struggled to establish a harmonic political community due to the wide range of ethnic groups within the country. The dictoral regime of Idi Amin from 1971-79 is said to be responsible for the deaths of 300,000 opponents which was followed by the deaths of 100,000 under Milton Obote who returned to power despite being ousted by Amin previously. This has been followed by the rule of Yoweri Museveni since 1986 who has managed to bring relative stability and growth to the country while improving Uganda's reputation regarding human rights.
Current problems:
In 1988, a conflict between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) began in northern Uganda and forced people to move into camps under Uganda's 'protected villages' policy. The LRA have reportedly killed, raped and kidnapped innocent civilians. This includes children who have been kidnapped by the LRA to become soldiers or slaves. The UN estimates 20,000 children have been abducted. Many of the LRA leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court. There have been no LRA attacks in Uganda since 2006, when the government and the LRA signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. The LRA never signed the Final Peace Agreement, but rather moved its area of operation to Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. As a result of improved security, by the end of 2009 around 1.4 million of the 1.8 million IDPs returned home. However, 235,000 IDPs remained in camps and a further 200,000 in transit sites. A disproportionate number of these IDPs were elderly, disabled and sick people, including people with HIV/AIDS. Those who returned face significant challenges such as the absence of basic services, schools and disputed over land. The government signed the Kampala Convention in 2009 and began to implement its Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda which aims to bring the north up to the same level of development as the rest of the country. However there are concerns about monitoring mechanisms and management of disbursement of the funding.
Facts about Uganda:
Half the population of Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
Uganda currently has a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Uganda has been one of the most effective countries in combatting HIV/AIDS reducing it from 30% in the 1990s to 5% in 2002.
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South Sudan - to be updated
Sudan
Full name: Republic of Sudan
Population: 39,4 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Khartoum
Area: 2.5 million sq km (966,757 sq miles)
Major languages: Arabic; Nubian, others
Major religions: Islam, Christianity
Life expectancy: 57 years (men), 60 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: Sudanese dinar
Main exports: Oil, cotton, sesame, livestock and hides, gum arabic
GNI per capita: US $960 (World Bank, 2007).
President: Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Number of IDPs: 4,9 million (11.6% of total population)
Peak number of IDPs: 2,7 million in Darfur (2008); 4 million in Southern Sudan (2004)
Brief political history and current problems:
Sudan gained independence from the UK in 1956 and has since experienced two civil wars between the north and the south. A peace deal was eventually signed in 2005 but more than 2 million people are said to have been killed from fighting and famine with a further 4 million displaced. In 2009, Sudan continued to have the largest internally displaced population in the world. A separate conflict broke out in 2003 in the western region of Darfur which has displaced 2 million and killed 400,000. The UN has been in charge of Darfur's peacekeeping operation since the start of 2008 but has struggled to stabilise the situation. Sudan has experienced large numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries, primarily Ethiopia and Chad. In March 2009 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. This was the first time this has happened for a sitting head of state. It has been criticised by many as the wrong measures to take in ensuring the safety of the Sudanese people.
Recently increased fighting in the southern Sudanese region has led to the situation being considered more volatile than in Darfur. IRT is most active in southern Sudan where refugees are flowing in from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic due to the Lord Resistance Army's violent attacks in these countries.
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Full name: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Population: 64.7 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Kinshasa
Area: 2.34 million sq km (905,354 sq miles)
Major languages: French, Lingala, Kiswahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Monetary unit: 1 Congolese franc = 100 centimes
Main exports: Diamonds, copper, coffee, cobalt, crude oil
GNI per capita: US $140 (World Bank, 2007)
President: Joseph Kabila
Number of IDPs: 1,9 million (2,9% of total population)
Peak number of IDPs: 3,4 million (2003)
Brief political history:
The DRC gained independence from Belgian colonial powers in 1960. However, its prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was killed by troops loyal to army chief Joseph Mobutu a year later. Mobutu seized power and renamed the country Zaire.
During the Cold War, Zaire supported the USA in operations against Angola which was backed by the Soviet Union. However, as the Cold War ended, Zaire ceased to be of interest to the US. In 1997 Mobutu was overthrown and Laurent Kabila became president. Zaire was renamed as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Turmoil in the area has continued. In the 1990’s new tensions arose between DRC and Rwanda and Uganda. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe took president Kabila's side. The conflict devastated the country.
Violence between Hutu and Tutsi groups, still a residue from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, flared up in the East of the DRC, especially in the provinces of North and South Kivu. Rwandan Hutu militias clashed with DRC government forces in April 2008, creating thousands of internally displaced civilians.
DR Congo's abundant mineral resources such as coltan, which is used in mobile phones, have fuelled the violence in eastern areas of the country, with rival militias competing for control.
Under the eye of the international community, peace treaties have been drafted and signed amongst the various rebel groups which have emerged in the past decade. After the capture of general Laurent Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi rebel, the people of DRC were hopeful that peace might become a reality. Thus far, civilians remain displaced from their homes. Violence, especially that of a vicious and sexual nature, remains a daily reality for Congolese civilians.
Refugees and Internally Displaced People in the DRC
As of December 2009, 1.9 million people were displaced by the various conflicts which have killed several million people since the mid-1990s. Over a million people were displaced in 2009 alone, the majority of them in North Kivu Province, and the level of displacement was at the end of the year the highest since 2004. At the same time, an estimated million people or more returned home, half of them to North Kivu.
The new displacements in 2009 was caused by fighting between militia groups and Congolese armed forces supported by the UN, as well as by attacks and violence against civilians by all sides.
Attacks against the population by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also led to the displacement of thousands of people. The killing and rape of IDPs and other civilians continued at a horrifying rate in eastern DRC in 2009. The government's troops are ill-equipped, poorly trained and barely paid while humanitarian access is limited by the fighting. The majority of IDPs lack access to basic infrastructure and many children have no education. There is no legislation to protect IDPs.
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Eritrea
Full name: The State of Eritrea
Population: 5 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Asmara
Area: 117,400 sq km (45,300 sq miles)
Major languages: Tigrinya, Tigre, Arabic, English
Major religions: Islam, Christianity
Life expectancy: 56 years (men), 60 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Nakfa = 100 cents
Main exports: Livestock, hides, sorghum, textiles, salt, light manufactures
GNI per capita: US $230 (World Bank, 2007)
President: Isaias Afewerki
Number of IDPs: 24,000 - 40,000 (0.2 - 0.3% of total population)
Peak number of IDPs: 70,000 (2007)
Brief political history
Originally an Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by Britain until 1952 when the UN decided to federate it with Ethiopia as a compromise between Eritrean calls for independence and Ethiopian claims of sovereignty. 10 years after this Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea as a province caused a 30-year conflict for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating governmental forces; independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum. A two-and-a-half-year border war with Ethiopia in 1998 ended under UN auspices in December 2000. Both parties have since been unable to agree on the disputed territory despite attempts by UN peacekeeping operations.
Current problems
Eritrea currently suffers a food shortage leaving two thirds of the population relying on supplements from food aid. The economic progress of the country is also hampered by the number of Eritreans working in the army rather than civilian jobs. An estimated 10,000 people are yet to be resettled who had been displaced during the 1998-2000 border war. The government reported in December 2009 that the resettled IDPs were leading better lives as a result of development and livelihood programmes implemented. Yet the government has not accepted proposals by the UN to carry out a joint assessment.
The Eritrean government has been accused of human rights violations as well as supporting militant groups in neighbouring countries. Accusations have come from Sudan who say rebel groups in their eastern region have been supported by Eritrea and most recently the U.S and African Union have said Eritrean support for militant groups in Somalia is unacceptable. In 2009, thousands of Eritreans reportedly fled the country. Representatives of the Eritrean government have denied these claims. The government has yet to sign the Kampala Convention.
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Thailand
Full name: Kingdom of Thailand
Population: 64.3 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Bangkok
Area: 513,115 sq km (198,115 sq miles)
Major language: Thai
Major religion: Buddhism
Life expectancy: 66 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN 2008)
Monetary unit: 1 baht = 100 satangs
Main exports: Food including rice, seafood and live animals, office equipment, textiles and clothing, rubber
GNI per capita: US $3,400 (World Bank, 2007)
Head of State: King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Thailand is a constitutional monarchy)
Prime minister: Abhisit Vejjajiva
Brief Political History
Thailand was formally known as ‘Siam’. In 1939 the kingdom’s name was changed to Thailand which means "Land of the Free" after a coup against absolute monarch King Prajadhipok. A constitutional monarchy was introduced with a parliamentary government.
After World War II, King Ananda was assassinated and a military coup by the wartime, pro-Japanese leader Phibun Songkhram took place. The military retained power until 1973. Student riots in Bangkok brought about the fall of the military government. Free elections were held but the resulting governments lack stability.
Burma closed its border with Thailand in 2002 after the Thai army fired shells into Burma during a battle between the Burmese army and ethnic Shan rebels. The border reopened that same year.
In December 2004 thousands of people were killed when a tsunami devastated communities on the south-west coast, including the resort of Phuket.
Violent unrest continued in the south which the government blamed on Islamic militants. In November 2005 the death toll in violence since January 2004 topped 1,000.
The 2006 coup by the military was supported by the ‘yellow-shirts’ who firmly oppose the prime minister of that time, Thaksin Shinawatra. The ‘red-shirts’ are campaigning for Thaksin Shinawatra, who is very popular among the rural people, therefore directly opposing the yellow-shirts. Thaksin Shinawatra was popular with the poor, as he initiated policies that benefited them, such as funding for health-care and education.
General elections in 2007 marked the first major step towards a return to civilian rule. The People Power Party (PPP), seen as the reincarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, won the most votes.
Refugees in Thailand
150 000 Burmese reside in various Thai temporary displaced persons camps assisted by the Thai Burmese Border Consortium and UNHCR. Hundreds of thousands of other Burmese, particularly the Shan, live as illegal migrants without access to refugee status or assistance despite having experienced persecution and conflict in Burma. 6,000 Laotian Hmong asylum seekers are being held in an Army supervised camp at Petchabon, without any access to UNHCR or resettlement.
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Colombia
Full name: The Republic of Colombia
Population: 45.7 million (UN, 2009)
Capital: Bogota
Area: 1.14 million sq km (440,831 sq miles)
Major language: Spanish
Major religions: Christianity
Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 77 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Colombian peso = 100 centavos
Main exports: Petroleum, coffee, coal, gold, bananas, cut flowers, chemicals, emeralds, cotton products, sugar, livestock
GNI per capita: US $4,660 (World Bank, 2008)
President: Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Number of IDPs: 3,3 – 4,9 million (7.2 – 10.8% of total population)
Peak number of IDPs: 3,3 – 4,9 million (2009)
Brief political history:
Colombia gained independence from Spain in 1819 and adopted its present name in 1886. Two political parties – the Conservatives and the Liberals – grew out of internal conflicts and have since dominated Colombian politics, although the military shortly seized power for three times.
Notwithstanding Colombia’s commitment to democracy, it has experienced violent conflict. Two civil wars resulted from rivalry between both parties. Thousand Days War (1899 – 1902) cost 100,000 lives and ‘La Violencia’ (1940s – 50s) killed 300,000 people. The US’s activity in the area led to a military uprising in the province of Panama in 1903, resulting in the formation of its own nation.
In 1957, the Conservative and Liberal decided to govern jointly by forming the ‘National Front’. However, internal contradictions led to mixed results and social and political problems continued. At the same time, guerrilla groups inspired by Marxist doctrines to fight the government were formally created such as the FARC, ELN and M-19.
Powerful and violent drug cartels developed from the 1970s – 1990s. The Medellin Cartel under Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel particularly exerted political, economic and social influence.
The new Colombian Constitution was signed in 1991. It included new provisions on political, ethnic, human and gender rights but the country continued to be plagues by the cartels’ terrorist attacks, mafia-style executions, drug trade and corruption. President Andres Pastrana and the FARC failed to negotiate a solution to the conflict between 1999 and 2002. He also initiated the Colombia Plan for the same reasons.
During the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, the government applied more military pressure on the FARC, which led to a decrease in reported kidnappings and homicides. However, the 2006-2007 Colombian parapolitics scandal involved the discovery of past and present links between paramilitary groups, such as the AUC, and some government officials.
Current problems and IDPs:
At the end of 2009 there were up to 4.9 million IDPs in Colombia, bringing it alongside Sudan as one of the two largest internal displacement situations in the world. Although the government’s efforts to contain FARC violence in 2008 brought positive results, 2009 saw the onset of new internal armed conflict and increased human rights abuses. People mainly fled to Colombian cities but many were also driven across borders into Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama. Many IDPs remain unregistered, leading to a discrepancy between government and actual numbers. Also, almost all IDPs are excluded from the formal labour market and many struggle to secure basic necessities of life.