Hakim Almasmari and Angela Dewan write: Dozens of schools and hospitals have been bombed. Foreign powers have carried out deadly airstrikes. Political chaos has created a vacuum for militant groups like ISIS to flourish and sieges have cut off rebel-held areas from desperately needed aid.
You might think this is a picture of war-torn Syria, but it is in fact Yemen, where a bloody civil war has created what the UN calls a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
But unlike Syria, the world’s gaze has largely missed a conflict that has left millions in need of aid and pushed communities to the brink of famine.
As such, many term it the “forgotten war.”
“It’s probably one of the biggest crises in the world but it’s like a silent crisis, a silent situation and a forgotten war,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick told CNN.
The health service has “completely collapsed” and “children are dying silent deaths,” McGoldrick said, as medical facilities continue to be bombed relentlessly. [Continue reading…]
The same goes for other forgotten conflicts, specially in Africa. Who but a few remember the girls abducted by Boko Haram? As I write this, and later in the day and during the weekend, they are still and will still be undergoing their terrible ordeal. Who cares about Mexico’s missing 43 students? Who thinks about the ongoing Maoist guerrilla war in Eastern India? So many lives, so many conflicts. Our brains can’t cope with so much despair and powerlessness.