Today, I’m angry at the world.
Yesterday, a group of Islamist militants walked into a hotel and a nearby restaurant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and took everyone inside hostage. Security forces managed to demobilize the situation and free the hostages, but before that 26 people were killed, several were wounded, the hotel and restaurant were set on fire. An Al-Qaeda affiliated group based in Mali have taken responsibility for the attack.
Today, I’m angry at the world. I’ve eaten at the restaurant that was attacked. I’ve stayed at a hotel just next door. I have two colleagues who are in Ouagadougou right now. Both of them are safe, but they had planned to meet at the restaurant that was attacked just a couple of hours before the terrorists walked in. By chance, their plans changed.
Today, I’m angry at the world. Burkina Faso just had their first democratic elections in three decades this last November. About a year ago, a popular uprising led to the president of 27 years being forced to resign, and a peaceful democratization process was started. I witnessed it first-hand while in the country to do fieldwork. A democratization process that almost fell through in September when an officer in the former presidential guard took the interim president hostage and declared himself leader of the country. That lasted for one bloody, violent week before the national army surrounded the capital and the former presidential guard surrendered. The political situation is fragile, but hopeful.
Today, I’m angry at the world. The research project that I’m working in recently got dramatically reduced funding, due to the fact that so many European countries have chosen to use their foreign aid money for dealing with the refugee situation inside their borders instead of giving it to multilateral organizations. I think the refugees have a right to come to Europe and stay alive, and the fact that they are coming entails an initial cost to the European countries that they choose to come to. But isn’t it ironic that the money that is spent on taking care of these refugees originally was intended for projects that hopefully would have led to development of long-term stability and better welfare in the countries where many of the refugees come from, potentially preventing future countrymen and -women of the refugees from also fleeing. And now some brainwashed lunatics have made the situation worse also in Burkina Faso, thus far a relatively calm country in an increasingly violent region of Africa.
Today, I am so angry at the world. This twisted, sick, impossible place. Angry.
There will be no nice ending to this post. Because today, I am angry. Instead, here is a picture from last June, taken from the parking lot of the hotel where I stayed. To the right is the hotel that now is a burnt-out hole, and across the street you see the restaurant.
Katja Malmborg 