From: , Environmental Graffiti, More from this Affiliate
Published January 22, 2008 08:35 AM

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/29736

There are no real winners in Africa's many tribal and political conflicts and the list of losers keeps growing.

Animal conservation groups say they have found a link between the decline of African wildlife, much of it threatenedor endangered, and refugee camps. It appears that a thriving black market in illegally caught meat has grown up in the camps due to the lack of animal protein provided by the international aid organizations that provide food for the camps.

Traffic, an organization that monitors the trade in wildlife, has found that bush meat is widely sold, cooked, and eaten in Tanzanian refugee camps. The animals affected are thought to include buffalo, chimps, and zebras.

Tanzania is host to the largest refugee population in Africa, mostly in camps along its western border. Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi have all had violent conflict in recent years and all lie very close to Tanzania, making the country a natural choice for fleeing refugees. But many of the country's wildlife refuges are in the same area as the refugee camps.

The true scale of the bush hunting issue is not yet known, but there have been sharp drops in animal numbers in wildlife parks after influxes of refugees in the past. After 600,000 refugees fled Rwanda in 1994 for a Tanzanian camp near Burigi National Park, animal numbers dropped significantly. Buffalo numbers went from more than 2,600 to just 44, and the 324 Liechtenstein Hartebeest antelopes completely disappeared from the park.

Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday January 23, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

http://www.guardian.co.uk/egypt/story/0,,2245408,00.html

Click on link for video of the event. 

Tens of thousands of Palestinians today poured into Egypt from Gaza after militants blew up part of the wall between the two territories in protest at an Israeli blockade.

On foot, in cars or riding donkey carts, Gazans burst into the Egyptian border town of Rafah to buy cigarettes, plastic bottles of fuel and other supplies that have become scarce and expensive after months of economic isolation.
"I have bought everything I need for the house for months. I have bought food, cigarettes and even two gallons of diesel for my car," Mohammed Saeed told Reuters.

Many of the Palestinians, some travelling from the northern Gaza Strip, found transport towards the Egyptian coastal town of El Arish, about 40km away.

Others stayed on the Egyptian side of Rafah and clamoured to buy merchandise that has been in short supply in Gaza, even going as afar as emptying some shops.

Hamas, which has controlled the narrow coastal strip since last June, did not take responsibility for knocking the border wall down, but its militants quickly took control as Egyptian border guards stood aside.

Hamas police funnelled the crowds through two sections of the border and inspected bags, confiscating seven pistols carried by one man returning to Gaza.

Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running through Rafah at dawn. There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said. About two-thirds of the 12km wall was demolished, at one point with the help of a bulldozer.

Hamas expressed support for the move, saying: "Blowing up the border wall with Egypt is a reflection of the ... catastrophic situation which the Palestinian people in Gaza are living through due to the blockade."