More than a million people have fled their homes in the Ivory Coast, a nation that
appears to be slowly sliding towards a full-scale civil war. This is the dramatic
situation facing the people of this West African country and was the subject of an
appeal on Wednesday by Pope Benedict who called for urgent dialogue between the opposing
sides. With Libya and Japan hogging the headlines, little attention is being paid
by the international media to this under-reported and worsening humanitarian crisis
in the Ivory Coast caused by the massive displacement of people, many of whom have
crossed the border into neighbouring Liberia. Susy Hodges spoke to Antonio Cabral,
the regional manager for west Africa for the catholic development agency, CAFOD, who
has just spent 10 days in the Ivory Coast /Liberia border area. Cabral says the situation
is very grave and not getting the attention or funding that it deserves:
"The
situation is very serious because basically what we are witnessing is civil war in
Ivory Coast and people are fleeing... with nothing, basically running for their lives
and so the needs are huge."
Asked whether he believes the crisis has been rather
forgotten about, Cabral replies: "I'm afraid so, the media doesn't seem to have space
for a big humanitarian crisis in the Ivory Coast, maybe because there is no oil or
maybe the other 2 crises (in Libyan and Japan) have got all the headlines but it is
a huge crisis and it's very important that we raise the profile on this ... because
people are suffering and are in need of our help."
He says "it's very difficult
to get the funding ... to respond to this crisis" and expresses his regret over the
current situation in a country that was once a beacon of peace and stability in West
Africa... "it's a pity that it's being destroyed by this unrest." Listen to the
interview: