Greetings, HuffPost readers. It has been awhile since I have posted. I have an important reason for returning.
Some of my close friends and colleagues work in Côte d'Ivoire, addressing the very significant HIV prevention and treatment challenge facing that country. With the world distracted by happenings in Egypt, Japan, Libya, and elsewhere, ex-President Laurent Gbagbo is exploiting the situation to commit serious human rights violations. My colleagues send the below missive regarding the situation.
(This message is cross-posted, with slight modification, at the Reality Based Community)
Friends & Colleagues,
We are writing to enlist your help in spreading the word about the deteriorating situation in Côte d'Ivoire and in pressing the United Nations to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians from imminent harm.
We collaborate closely with a team of doctors and researchers based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. This team provides medical care to over 10,000 HIV-infected individuals in that city, many through PEPfAR-related programs. Their excellent treatment services have improved the health of thousands; their pioneering research has saved the lives of even greater numbers throughout the developing world. These are brave men and women who have witnessed desperate humanitarian emergencies first-hand, who function with little support, and who are not the least bit prone to exaggeration.
Over the last few days, we have received increasingly dire reports from our colleagues. They describe the situation in Abidjan as "pre-genocidal." Several neighborhoods of the capital and outlying areas that are loyal to President-Elect Alassane Ouattara have now been fenced in by troops supporting ex-President Laurent Gbagbo. Civilians attempting to cross checkpoints have been robbed and killed. Gangs of militiamen conduct regular sweeps through neighborhood houses, ostensibly to maintain order but, in reality, to intimidate. Civilians in these neighborhoods are trapped, threatened in their own homes, terrified to leave, and not knowing where to turn for safety. For people with chronic conditions like HIV -- dependent on access to medications for their own health -- an already life-threatening situation is made even worse by the growing national drug shortage and the real danger of leaving one's home just to fill a prescription or to keep a medical appointment.
The political-military situation in Côte d'Ivoire was front-and-center in people's minds a few short weeks ago. But events in Egypt, in Libya, and in Japan have overtaken the headlines. Gbagbo has capitalized on our collective inattention to secure his illegal position and to terrorize the people. The UN needs to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians in Côte d'Ivoire. More than 400 people have been killed and some 400,000 persons displaced while UN troops have been on the ground.
Specific steps that can be taken immediately include: opening UN and French military bases to civilian refugees; establishing a humanitarian corridor to permit civilians to escape the violence and reach these bases; and jamming the state broadcasting system so that it can no longer incite violence.
There is a lot to watch around the world tonight. We can't let this situation slip from view.