Kenya: world’s largest refugee camp Somalis in Dadaab occupy the grey spaces of international law Noor Tawane is approaching 30. He is of average height and medium build and beginning to thicken around the middle. Seven children and several businesses have taken their toll: lately, a patch of grey hair has appeared on the very top of his black crown. Mr Tawane is tired. His eyes that twinkle when he is excited are mostly dull these days. For 23 of his 29 years, Mr Tawane has lived in Hagadera camp, one of the five that make up the complex of…
Ben Rawlence
Ethiopia and Kenya: power plays The two neighbours are complicit in hydro-electric projects that could dry up Lake Turkana and destroy the lives of those who live near it In the middle of the arid red desert of Kenya’s far north-west is a miraculous band of green water: Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake. During calm weather, algae float on the surface and turn the lake green. This has given rise to the lake’s other name: the Jade Sea. It is also known as Anam Ka’alakol, meaning the “sea of many fish”, in the local Turkana language. Nearly 300,000…
Ethiopia: what opposition? Few political rights exist in Ethiopia and even fewer voices criticise the government The right to remain silent is one liberty not denied to critics of the Ethiopian government. Most other political entitlements have vanished. This explains the puzzle of Ethiopia’s invisible political opposition: it is so battered and brutalised, so tattered and torn, that what is left of its pieces may never fit together again. The current government is mostly to blame. It came to power in 1991 after it toppled the communist military junta led by despot Mengistu Haile Mariam. The victorious coalition of ethnic…
