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Colombia By Jonathan Power The US commander in chief, Bill Clinton, said last month that vital American interests were at stake in Colombia. It is "very much in our national security interests to do what we can." When a US president uses these code words it essentially means that the backbone of the US military, intelligence and national security bodies has decided that, if necessary, the US is prepared to go to any lengths, even war, to deal with the problem. |
United States By Tim Holtz, MD In 1948 the United Nations drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a clarion call for common dignity and humanity among all persons, Article Five states that "no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment." The right to life is regarded as one of the core principles of human rights, a right that is universal and underogable (never can be violated). |
Angola By Maria Rio-Benito I first arrived in Angola in February 1998. This large country in south-western Africa is potentially one of the richest in sub-Sahara Africa. It boasts oil, copper, gold, uranium, diamonds, coffee, tobacco, and many other agricultural and mineral resources. But, since achieving independence from Portugal in 1976, it has been engulfed in a civil war between the government (MPLA–Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), aided by the Soviet Union, and a rebel organization known as UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), assisted by the United States. |
Sierra Leone By Daniel Bausch, MD With the sound of gunfire coming ever closer, Aiah Kanu told his two younger brothers to "Take what’s important to you and let’s go." Seven years later, he finds himself one of an estimated 500,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in neighboring Guinea. The toll of eight years of civil war for Aiah: His house and village burned, father killed, sister missing since 1996, a promising career in engineering turned to that of a driver/mechanic. Aiah’s tale is all too common in Sierra Leone. Between 100,000 and 150,000 people have been killed in this small West African country of five million people. Another 10,000 have been maimed, many by the rebel’s trademark deliberate chopping off of limbs. Virtually no one has been left untouched by the violence, both physical and emotional, which will take generations to heal. |
Two Months After Mitch: DGH in Honduras
