BONN (dpa-AFX) – According to an aid organization, the ten largest humanitarian crises that have been forgotten in the media are in Africa. Angola in southern Africa tops the list, said the non-governmental organization Care in its report “Breaking the Silence” published on Thursday. Droughts, floods and hunger in the country meant that more than seven million people needed humanitarian assistance.
According to Care, five million online articles were evaluated for the report between January 1st and September 30th, 2023. In addition to German-language articles, Arabic, English, French and Spanish texts were also analyzed. The NGO issued the report for the eighth time.
According to the report, all of the ten media public “blind spots” listed are in Africa – in addition to Angola, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Uganda and the Central African Republic, among others.
“The global humanitarian need has never been greater than in 2023,” said Care Secretary General Karl-Otto Zentel, according to the statement. This was also reflected in international reporting – but not everywhere. “It is clear that recent events such as the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, the war in Ukraine and the escalating conflict in the Middle East dominated the headlines,” said Zentel.
“Many crises in Africa have existed for a long time, with little development or change. It is therefore difficult to maintain attention to these contexts.” In addition, the media’s human and financial resources would decrease, which would particularly affect the relatively expensive foreign reporting./czy/DP/jha