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From Our Own Correspondent: Living in fear in Tigray

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29/10/2022 GMT

Living in fear in Tigray

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Living in fear in Tigray

Conflict in Ethiopia hits health services; tales from the Netherlands, Taiwan and Chicago

Ethiopia’s civil war hits health services; the creaking Dutch asylum system; questions of identity in Taiwan; and the town in Illinois paying reparations to African-Americans.

The conflict in Tigray has been raging for nearly two years, but it’s very difficult to get into the region, and almost as hard to get first-hand information out of it. Like many journalists, Catherine Byaruhanga has tried repeatedly to travel to areas where the war is being fought out – and been repeatedly refused access. To find out what’s really happening to civilians, hospitals and clinics in the city of Mekelle, she had to tap into an improvised network of health workers.

Despite its international image as a haven of common sense and consensus government, the Netherlands has recently been roiled by one domestic crisis after another. Facing a housing shortage and the soaring cost of living, Dutch voters have grown less keen on funding the country’s asylum system. But dirty and dangerous conditions have been reported at the centres where refugees and migrants must stay. Anna Holligan went to talk to some of the people trying to find their way through the process. 

The Chinese government in Beijing insists that Taiwan is historically part of China, and that it’s working towards reunification. In Taipei, the view is rather different. Zeinab Badawi spoke to Taiwanese people from several generations – and found their sense of identity varies quite a bit by age. 

The idea of paying reparations to African-Americans as one way to make amends for the historic crimes of slavery is not new - it was around before slavery was even abolished in the US. But how to make it work in practice? Mike Wending reports from Evanston, Illinois, which has a trailblazing scheme to pay out to residents who suffered racial discrimination in the housing system.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-Ordinator: Iona Hammond

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