This is hard work. The more I hear about conflict the more I gringe. Over land, over cattle, over wives… absorbing all of this information is as difficult as it is disheartening. The task of mapping conflict seems a long way away when your peers question not only (1) where a critical mass of data to conduct serious analysis will come from [I didn’t laugh when jokes of ‘count the dead’ were mentioned] and (2) the kind of response a conflict early warning system can provide [what good is ‘reactionary’ when communication and reply is so slow? Can ‘predictive’ even be modelled in the context of tribal militias?]. In a country where only 15% has access to a mobile network, getting data from the people seems to be years away. In the meantime, the biggest mapping concern I hear about seems to be towards coordinating the army of locally-based NGOs and development actors… of course they have no idea whose where, who’s doing what and how many of ye are there; that would mean a degree of communication, openness and collaboration we’ve just never seen before!
It was way past the 10 hour working mark and I needed a beer. So why not with the UN’s Regional Coordinator, exponentially it’s been on the cards anyway. I can see it even in his eyes there’s not much optimism to stop the loss of life that awaits in the dark reaches of this country.
…it seems to go on without much care from a government more concerned with the only land that will count…that of oil and borders.
But today was the first day I had the pleasure of receiving data (so finally some ‘fuel’ for this mapping vehicle!)…of course I couldn’t help but notice data covering the gluttonous carvings of land ownership made by various European companies (the French… Total Fin!?) just waiting to begin drilling, nevermind conservation areas or the settlements near by.….just can’t change some things I guess.
Sound sombre? It’s ok, I had pizza for dinner and 3 cups of warm tea to sooth myself.
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