Reconciliation between Tamils and the Sinhalese-dominated government in Sri Lanka is elusive as ever, even if the government tries to recruit Tamils into government service such as police work. ‘But such measures look paltry against an internment policy that the EU’s report calls a “novel form of unacknowledged detention”. The government justifies it by citing [...]

The UN is said to be ‘devoting special energy to the displaced Tamils, most still interned in camps, because the issue was critical for the country’s future.’ Assessing the condition that the internally-displaced Tamils are in, the UN believes that the Tamil refugees’ situation is ‘putting reconciliation at risk.’ This is because the sordid reality [...]

In Sudan, warlordism makes for uniquely legitimate military infrastructure. The Islamist government in Khartoum is headed by one General Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s chief warlord, who, in spite of an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, continues to ignore the due [...]

For the lowly ‘farmers and herders fleeing the war between the Yemeni army and Houthi Shia rebels that broke out last month in the country’s mountainous north,’ the noise of heavy artillery, mortar attacks, and aerial bombardment have become familiar sounds. These people have become refugees, temporarily sheltered far away from their villages and in [...]

For the hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, there has been very little actual assistance from both international NGOs and the Pakistani government itself. The numbers are mind-boggling: 200,000 additional internally displaced persons (IDPs) pouring in everyday into refugee camps.
Pakistani military forces are deep in battle [...]