No Holy Land, No Oil, No Problem

Africa: the mysterious land of Sheba and The Sphinx, now known for its exotic diseases and never ending wars. Every time an incident occurs in the world, where a few people die of whatever reason, the Western world holds its collective breath in awe. Every time a terrorist attack kills a dozen people in London, an Israeli raid kills 30 people in Palestine, a roadside bomb kills 3 American soldiers in Iraq, the world screams in one breath: Oh the humanity.

Facts, in 1998 200,000 people (mostly women and children) died in armed conflict in Africa. As large as that number is, it is humbled by the number of people who died of AIDS during the same year: 2 Million. During 2003 (18 month period) in Darfur, the smallest fatality estimate is at 50,000 people. In 1994, half a million people (at least) died in 100 days in Rwanda. Most people either know these numbers, or do not want to know them. Why? Where is the UN relief fund? Where is the Coalition Forces? Where is the world's outrage?

The answer to those questions is very simple, Africa does not posses holy land to the three biblical religions, Africa is not known for its oil, Africans tend to be dark skinned (or perhaps more importantly, not white).

Unfortunately, countries like the U.S. and U.K. are ran by religious people and those people do not really posses compassion for African land as opposed to Middle Eastern land. With all due respect to the victims of the Middle East, but their numbers are not even close to the number of dead in Africa. But Middle Easterners live in holy lands and have religion as their conflict.

Ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe has been a problem during the last 15 years, but nothing compared to Africa's ethnic cleansing, Rwanda alone takes the cake. But those Eastern Europeans were white.

Iraqis are not white nor live in a holy land (at least not Christian holy land) but they seem more like the rope in a tug-a-war match between the world's powers and that is because Iraq has one of the largest oil reserves in the world not to mention the biggest land between Iran and Israel.

I want to make one thing clear, I, like all of us, do feel tremendous compassion to all who suffer in the world...I just feel that sometimes that compassion never crosses the African border.