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FORGOTTEN WORLD (201) - (245)

All descriptions in order of posting on my blog [click here]

Contents

Introduction

In general, our news is dominated by very short-term events, such as an explosion or a killing or an election, with little reporting of the underlying causes of such events and very little tracking of on-going problems. Therefore a lot of serious issues go unforgotten for long periods of time to so many of us.

I run a weblog called NightHawk [click here] and I have used this blog to run an occasional series of weekly looks at some of the parts of the world that I feel are unreported. I then decided to pull together all these brief reports on to pages of my web site, so that you can check out some of the news stories that you might have overlooked.

The theme of this section then is that we have a moral obligation not to look away, not to ignore, not to forget. Instead we need to read, to remember, and above all to act.

(201) Nunavut (8/2/10)

Nunavut [click here] covers 1,932,255 sq km (746,048 sq mi) of land and 160,935 sq km (62,137 sq mi) of water in Northern Canada including part of the mainland, most of the Arctic Archipelago, and all of the islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay, and Ungava Bay which belonged to the Northwest Territories. This makes it the fifth largest sub-national entity (or administrative division) in the world. If Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area.

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories in 1999 though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993. The creation of Nunavut – meaning “our land” in Inuktitut – resulted in the first major change to Canada’s map since the incorporation of the new province of Newfoundland in 1949. Despite its huge size, the territory has a population of a mere 32,000.

(202) Brunei (9/2/10)

Brunei [click here] is a tiny country with a small population located in the north-west corner of the island of Borneo. In 1963, it was the only Malya state to choose to remain a British dependency rather than join the Malaysian Federation. It became independent in 1984 and, thanks to its large reserves of oil and gas, now has one of the highest standards of living in the world. Its ruling royals, led by the head of state Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, possess a huge private fortune.

The 400,000 citizens of Brunei enjoy high subsidies and pay no taxes, but the country is highly dependent on imports. Despite its immense wealth, most of the country outside the capital remains undeveloped and unexploited. While oil and gas exports account for the bulk of government revenues, reserves are dwindling and Brunei is attempting to diversify its economy. It markets itself as a financial centre and as a destination for upmarket and eco-tourism.

(203) Macedonia (10/2/10)

Following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Macedonia [click here] was spared the inter-ethnic violence that scarred much of the Balkans and became independent in 1991, but a decade later it came close to civil war as a result of the challenge of the ethnic Albanians who make up a quarter of the population of 2 million.

The conflict created a wave of refugees and the rebels made territorial gains. After months of skirmishes, EU and NATO support enabled the president, Boris Trajkovski, to strike a peace deal. Under the Ohrid agreement, Albanian fighters laid down their arms in return for greater ethnic-Albanian recognition within a unitary state.

The country’s name remains a contentious issue. It is still referred to formally as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). A large part of historic Macedonia is in Greece and much smaller parts are in Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria. In December 2008, Macedonia decided to take the issue of its name to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

(204) Egypt (11/2/10)

Egypt [click here] conducted wars with Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, before eventually making peace with its adversary in 1979, so the country has moved from being a warring nation to becoming a key representative in the peace process. President Hosni Mubarak has been in power since 1981; his strongest challenger is the Muslim Brotherhood which is tolerated but officially banned.

Egypt’s teeming cities – and almost all agricultural activity – are concentrated along the banks of the Nile, and on the river’s delta. The economy depends heavily on agriculture, tourism and cash remittances from Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. However, rapid population growth – there are now some 77M citizens – and the limited amount of arable land is straining the country’s resources and economy.

(205) Northern Marianas (12/12/08)

The Northern Marianas [click here] is a chain of 14 islands in the north-west Pacific Ocean. It is self-governing but linked politically to the United States.

The territory is exempt from US minimum wage and immigration laws; this has helped to drive a billion-dollar garment trade which employs thousands of migrant workers, many of them from China and the Philippines. Migrants outnumber the indigenous Chamarro and Carolinian populations.

The industry was dealt a blow in 2005 when, under liberalised world trade rules, the US scrapped import quotas on Chinese-made garments. Economic woes were compounded when, months later, Japan Airlines ended flights to the territory, hitting the tourist trade.

(206) Bahrain (7/6/10)

Bahrain [click here] - a chain of 33 islands - is located in the Gulf of Arabia and has a population of 790,000. It was one of the first states in the Gulf to discover oil and to build a refinery; as such, it benefited from oil wealth before most of its neighbours.

In 2001 Bahrainis strongly backed proposals put by the emir - now the king - to turn the country into a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament and an independent judiciary. Elections were duly held in 2002 for a 40-member parliament, the Council of Deputies. It was the first such poll in nearly 30 years. The new body included a dozen Shi'ite MPs.

The country has enjoyed increasing freedom of expression, and monitors say the human rights situation has improved. However, opposition groups and campaigners continue to press for political reforms, including greater powers for the elected assembly.

(207) Republic of the Congo (8/6/10)

The Republic of the Congo [ click here] is not to be confused with the neighbouring and larger Democratic Republic of the Congo. This Congo is sometimes known Congo-Brazzaville (after its capital) and has a population of only 3.7 million (compared to around 70 million in the DR Congo).

After three coup-ridden but relatively peaceful decades of independence, the former French colony experienced the first of two destructive bouts of fighting when disputed parliamentary elections in 1993 led to bloody, ethnically-based fighting between pro-government forces and the opposition.

Following a ceasefire, in 1997 ethnic and political tensions exploded into a full-scale civil war, fuelled in part by the prize of the country's offshore oil wealth, which motivated many of the warlords. By the end of 1999 the rebels had lost all their key positions to the government forces, who were backed by Angolan troops. The rebels then agreed to a ceasefire, but remnants of the civil war militias, known as Ninjas, are still active in the southern Pool region.

(208) Grenada (962/10)

Grenada [click here] and six smaller islands - a Caribbean nation of only 100,000 - made world headlines in 1983 when a split in the governing Left-wing party led to the overthrow and execution of the charismatic leader Maurice Bishop and provided the pretext for a US invasion. The country was dealt a serious blow in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan swept through killing dozens of people, damaging 90% of the island's buildings and devastating the nutmeg crop.

Although Grenada now has one of the fastest-growing economies in the Caribbean, poverty is widespread. Growth in investment and tourism, and a construction boom, have helped to reduce unemployment, but tourism has generated its own problems, in the form of threats to the rainforest and beach erosion caused by resort projects.

(209) Slovenia (10/6/10)

Slovenia [click here] - not to be confused with Slovakia - was formerly part of Yugoslavia and has a mere 2 million citizens. Unlike Croatia or Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia was relatively bloodless. The move was undoubtedly aided by Western European recognition of the Slovenes' aspirations and the low proportion of other ethnic groups in the country.

Slovenia has always been the most prosperous region of the former Yugoslavia and has found the transition from a socialist economy to the capitalist free market easier than most. On 1 January 2007, it became the first of the new EU member states to join the eurozone. A year later, it became the first former communist state to take on the EU presidency.

(210) Tuvalu (11/6/10)

Tuvalu [click here] is a group of nine tiny islands in the South Pacific which won independence from the United Kingdom in 1978. Five of the islands are coral atolls, the other four consist of land rising from the sea bed. All are low-lying, with no point on Tuvalu being higher than 4.5 metres above sea level. Local politicians have campaigned against global warming, arguing that climate change could see the islands swamped by rising sea levels.

In population terms, Tuvalu is the second smallest nation on earth with just 11,000 citizens (only the Vatican City is smaller). It depends on foreign aid, the income from the sale of tuna fishing licences, and the interest from a trust fund set up in 1987. Tuvalu has shown ingenuity by exploiting another source of income through selling its Internet suffix - .tv - to a Californian company for several million dollars a year in continuing revenue.

(211) Ascension Island (12/7/10)

Ascension Island [click here] is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around 1,600 kilometres from the coast of Africa, and 2,250 kilometres from the coast of South America which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa. It is politically organized and governed as part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

The island is the location of Wideawake Airfield, which is a joint facility of the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force, and the BBC World Service Atlantic Relay Station. It hosts one of five ground antennas that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system. Less than 1,000 live there.

(212) Eritrea (13/7/10)

A former Italian colony, Eritrea [click here] was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to establish it as an autonomous entity federated with Ethiopia. However, 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, decided to annex it, triggering a 32-year armed struggle.

This culminated in independence after an alliance of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and a coalition of Ethiopian resistance movements defeated Haile Selassie's communist successor, Mengistu Haile Mariam.

In 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, Eritreans voted almost unanimously for independence, leaving Ethiopia a landlocked nation. Eritrea emerged from its long war of independence only to plunge once again into military conflict, first with Yemen and then, more devastatingly, with its old adversary, Ethiopia.

Today, a fragile peace prevails in the country of almost 6 million and Eritrea faces the gigantic tasks of rebuilding its infrastructure and of developing its economy after more than 30 years of fighting

(213) Montenegro (14/7/10)

Montenegro [click here] emerged as a sovereign state in Europe after just over 55% of the population opted for independence in a May 2006 referendum. The vote heralded the end of the former Union of Serbia and Montenegro - itself created only three years earlier out of the remnant of the former Yugoslavia.

The EU-brokered deal of 2003 was intended to stabilise the region by settling Montenegrin demands for independence from Serbia and preventing further changes to Balkan borders. However, the same deal contained the seeds of the union's dissolution. It stipulated that after three years the two republics could hold referendums on whether to keep or scrap it. Montenegro opted for the latter.

Montenegro last experienced independence nearly 90 years earlier when it was absorbed into the newly-formed Yugoslavia at the end of World War I. Today it has a population of less than 700,000 but hopes to join the European Union soon.

(214) Puerto Rico (15/7/10)

Puerto Rico [click here] (Spanish for 'rich port') is a Caribbean island that is almost part of the United States - it is technically a sef-governing, unincorporated territory of the USA. The US invaded and occupied the island during the Spanish-American War of 1898, ending centuries of rule from Spain.

Under American administration, Puerto Rico saw growth and development, but nationalist sentiment sometimes spilled over into violence, notably in the 1930s and 1940s, and a series of bombings and killings in the 1970s and 1980s were blamed on a pro-independence group.

The 4 million Puerto Ricans, who elect a governor for the island, have tended to favour parties that support the union with the US. They do not pay US income tax but the island receives federal funds.

(215) Council of Europe (16/7/10)

The Council of Europe [click here] - headquartered in Strasbourg, France - is not to be confused with the European Union. The Council was formed in 1949 to promote human rights on the continent, while the European Union - as it is now called - was created in 1957 to encourage economic and political union. The EU now has 27 Member States, but the Council has 47, including every European country except Belarus.

The greatest achievement of the Council of Europe is the European Convention on Human Rights - often wrongly associated with the European Union. The last Labour Government incorporated the provisions of the Convention into UK domestic law which means that it can be enforced in British courts, but the Conservative Party has called for it to be replaced by a specifically British Bill of Rights.

(216) India (30/8/10)

Since almost one in five of the world's citizens lives in India [click here], it's astonishing that the country features so little in world reports. It is the world's second most populous nation (after China) but overwhelmingly the largest democracy on the planet [for my account of the political system click here].

On the one hand, India is a nation in which more than 800 million people still live on less than $2 a day. According to the latest measure of the United Nations Development Programme, which includes such indicators of deprivation as education and health, just eight Indian states have more poor people – 421 million – than the 28 poorest countries of Africa. In fact, under-nutrition in India is twice as high as that in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly half of India's 120 million children exposed to early death.

On the other hand, India is much more stable and prosperous than Pakistan and Bangladesh (both part of India under British colonial rule), it has a huge army and nuclear weapons, the economy is growing fast, there are pockets of industrial excellence like IT, it has its own space programme, and Bollywood produces more movies each year than Hollywood.

(217) Pakistan (31/8/10)

Pakistan [click here] is in the news for terrorism (regularly) and floods (currently), but there is much more to this nation of 180 million, the sixth most populous on the planet. Created in 1947 when it was carved out of India as a new Muslim state, it remains a nuclear-armoured rival to its huge neighbour with Pakistan and India both continuing to contest ownership of the Kashmir.

Civilian politics in Pakistan in the last few decades has been tarnished by corruption, inefficiency and confrontations between various institutions. Alternating periods of civilian and military rule have not helped to establish stability. Since February 2008, there has been an elected government but it is weak and fragile.

Despite being a very poor country in 1947, Pakistan's economic growth rate has been better than the global average during the subsequent decades. However, at least 20% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day and life expectancy is in the low 60s.

(218) Bermuda (1/9/10)

Bermuda [click here], a densely-populated British overseas territory in the western Atlantic Ocean, is an archipelago of seven main islands which is one of the world's most prosperous economies. This wealth is largely down to the islands' offshore finance industry; more than 13,000 international companies have made the self-governing territory their nominal base.

The population is a mere 68,000, but the arrival of some half a million visitors each year, most of them from the US, further fuels the economy. This dependence on tourism makes the country susceptible to the ups and downs of the tourist industry. Visitors are attracted to the beaches, golf courses, colonial buildings and subtropical climate

(219) Guadeloupe (2/9/10)

The French territory of Guadeloupe [click here] with a population of 400,000 is a centre of Caribbean Creole culture. French, African and Caribbean influences infuse its music, dance, food and widely-spoken patois.

Guadeloupe's economy is kept afloat by public salaries and credits from Paris. Unemployment has been a long-running malaise, although its effects are tempered by France's generous social security system. Agriculture revolves around sugar cane and bananas; the latter is troubled by regional competition and the phasing out of preferential European quotas

(220) Monaco (3/9/10)

Monaco [click here] is the second-smallest independent state in the world (after the Vatican City). It is a playground for tourists and a haven for the wealthy, the former drawn by its climate and the beauty of its setting and the latter by its advantageous tax regime.

The country - a constitutional monarchy - is surrounded on three sides by France and occupies just under two square kilometres (0.75 sq mile) of the Cote d'Azur, where the Alpes Maritimes meet the Mediterranean. The population is a mere 30,000.

Tourism drives Monaco's economy; gamblers flock to the Place du Casino in Monte-Carlo, and every May the principality hosts the Monaco Grand Prix. The country is a major banking centre and closely guards the privacy of its clients.

(221) Cameroon (18/10/10)

The modern state of Cameroon [click here] - an African country of some 19 million - was created in 1961 by the unification of two former colonies, one British and one French. Since then it has struggled from one-party rule to a multi-party system in which the freedom of expression is severely limited. There are still tensions over the two mainly English-speaking southern provinces. A secessionist movement, the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC), emerged in the 1990s and has been declared as illegal.

In April 2008, Cameroon's parliament passed a controversial amendment to the constitution enabling the veteran President Paul Biya - who has ruled the country since 1982 - to run for a third term of office in 2011. Cameroon has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa. However, the country's progress is hampered by a level of corruption that is among the highest in the world.

(222) Guinea-Bissau (19/10/10)

Formerly Portuguese Guinea, Guinea-Bissau [click here] in west Africa won independence from Portugal in 1974 after a long struggle spearheaded by the left-wing African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

Once hailed as a potential model for African development, Guinea-Bissau - a nation of a mere 1.6 million - is now one of the poorest countries in the world. It has a massive foreign debt and an economy which relies heavily on foreign aid. The country's vital cashew nut crop provides a modest living for most of Guinea-Bissau's farmers and is the main source of foreign exchange.

(223) Falkland Islands (20/10/10)

The British - who control them - call them the Falkland Islands [click here], but Argentina - which lays claim to them - knows them as the Malvinas and in 1982 they went to war over them with the British defeating an Argentinean invasion. The fighting cost the lives of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen.

London and Buenos Aires restored diplomatic relations in 1990, but the status of the Falklands remains a sore point, with disagreements over flights to the islands and fishing rights. The dispute again came to the fore in 2009. In May, Britain rejected a request by Argentina for talks on the future sovereignty over the islands. In December, the Argentine parliament passed a law laying claim to the Falklands, along with nearby South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, in a move rejected by the UK. In February 2010, tensions rose further when a British company began exploring for oil near the Falklands' waters.

All this over islands hosting less than 2, 400 citizens.

(224) San Marino (21/10/10)

Landlocked San Marino [click here], totally surrounded by Italy, is one of the world's smallest countries. In size it is only 61 square kilometre (23.6 square miles) and the population is a mere 32,000. In 1862, a friendship and cooperation treaty with Italy, which has since been revised and expanded, reinforced San Marino's independence.

Tourism dominates the economy of the republic, which plays host to more than three million visitors every year. Postage stamps and coins - keenly sought by collectors - are important sources of revenue. It functions as a tax haven but, in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008-9, this status has come increasingly under threat.

(225) Ukraine (22/10/10)

Europe's second largest country, Ukraine [click here] gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and has since veered between seeking closer integration with Western Europe and reconciliation with Russia, which supplies most of the country's energy.

A significant minority of the population of Ukraine are Russians or use Russian as their first language. Russian influence is particularly strong in the industrialised east, as well as in Crimea, an autonomous republic on the Black Sea. .

However, while Ukraine and Russia share common historical origins, the west of the country has close ties with its European neighbours, particularly Poland, and Ukrainian nationalist sentiment is strongest there.

The current population is estimated at 46 million, but it is shrinking at a rate of 150,000 a year because of the lowest birth rate in Europe combined with one of the highest death rates in Europe.

(226) Hungary (6/12/10)

Perhaps the reason why Hungary [click here] - a nation of 10 million - is not so much in the public mind as some other others of Central & Eastern Europe is that, unlike many of those countries, it did not experience a revolution in 1989 - it had a long process of gradual political reform - and arguably kick-started those revolutions by allowing East Germans to flee through its territory to Austria.

Hungary's post-communist economic transition was achieved relatively smoothly. Within four years of the collapse of communism, nearly half of the country's economic enterprises had been transferred to the private sector, and by 1998 Hungary was attracting nearly half of all foreign direct investment in its region.

Ten years later, the picture looked rather less rosy. A high level of both private and state borrowing left the country particularly vulnerable to the credit crunch of 2008, and in October of that year the government was forced to appeal to international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for massive loans in a bid to stave off economic collapse.

Dissatisfaction with the centre-left coalition government's handling of the economy from 2002 to 2010 coincided with the rise of the right-wing nationalist party Jobbik, known for its anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric.

(227) Montserrat (7/12/10)

Montserrat [click here] is a self-governing British colony, an island in the Caribbean with a mere 4,500 citizens. In 1997 a major eruption devastated the southern part of the island and buried the capital, Plymouth. Agricultural land was destroyed, villages were flattened, and 19 people were killed.

The crisis prompted more than half of the island's population to leave; those who stayed were evacuated to the north. The restless volcano has prevented their return. Britain offered temporary, and later permanent, residence to all Montserratians. Others left for New York, or for other Caribbean islands including Antigua.

Montserratians living in the US have had their "temporary protected status" revoked and many may have to leave. With volcanic activity in their homeland unlikely to cease, the US Department of Homeland Security no longer considered their situation to be temporary.

(228) American Samoa (8/12/10)

Settled as early as 1000 B.C., Samoa in the South Pacific was "discovered" by European explorers in the 18th century. International rivalries in the latter half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 treaty in which Germany and the United States divided the Samoan archipelago. The USA formally occupied its portion - a smaller group of eastern islands with the excellent harbor of Pago Pago - the following year.

American Samoa [click here] has a population of around 65, 000. People born there are American nationals but are not American citizens unless one of their parents is a U.S. citizen. However, American Samoans are entitled to free and unrestricted entry into the United States. As U.S. nationals, American Samoans may not vote in U.S. presidential elections but they are entitled to elect one non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives.

(229) Vanuatu (9/12/10)

Vanuatu [click here] - a string of more than 80 Pacific islands once known as the New Hebrides - achieved independence from France and Britain in 1980. Most of the islands are inhabited and the total population is almost 250,000.

Vanuatu is mountainous and much of it is covered with tropical rain forests. Like most of the area, it is prone to earthquakes and tidal waves. Most of the people live in rural areas and practice subsistence agriculture.

Vanuatu has been spared the unrest which has befallen neighbouring countries such as the Solomon Islands and Fiji, although the largest island, Espiritu Santo, experienced a brief insurrection in 1980

(230) Ceuta & Melilla (10/12/10)

Ceuta [click here] (pop. 75,000) and Melilla [click here] (pop. 73,000), fragments of Europe on north Africa's Mediterranean coast, came under Spanish control around 500 years ago. Spain insists that the urban enclaves are integral parts of the country, but they are surrounded by Morocco, which views the Spanish presence as anachronistic and claims sovereignty.

Improving relations were jeopardised in November 2007 by Spanish King Juan Carlos' II first visit to the territories in more than 30 years, which King Mohammed VI strongly condemned.

Spain also controls a scattering of islets along the north African coast, including uninhabited Perejil, which was at the centre of a spat in 2002 when Moroccan soldiers occupied it before being removed by the Spanish army.

(231) Rockall (17/1/11)

Nobody lives on Rockall [click here], a British overseas territory that is a rocky, volcanic outcrop located some 240 miles west of Scotland in the Atlantic Ocean. But the place has significant strategic significance since it sits in the midst of what could be a potentially vast and lucrative oil and gas field.

Consequently four nations - Britain, Ireland, Iceland and Denmark - have laid claim to the surrounding seabed in the Hatton-Rockall basin and these competing claims will have to be considered by the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

(232) South China Sea (18/1/11)

We think of the Middle East as the most likely location for global conflict, but the South China Sea [click here] is the scene of many worrying developments. China has declared that it views the South China Sea as a "core" interest and is beginning to deploy more military muscle in the area, while the United States continues to insist that it has a "national interest" in freedom of navigation in the Sea. Meanwhile North and South Korea have exhibited new, sharper tensions.

China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines all have territorial claims in the Sea. The area of most concern is the Paracel Islands which are occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam. The Spratly Islands are occupied by a mix of military forces from Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

(233) French Guiana (19/1/11)

Only around 200,000 live in French Guiana [click here], but the ethnically-diverse population enjoys one of the higher standards of living on the South American continent. The French social security system is in force and subsidies from Paris prop up the economy. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that in January 2010 voters rejected the option of increased autonomy in a referendum with 69.8% voting against on a turnout of 48%.

A former penal settlement, Kourou, is home to a European Space Agency rocket launch site. The facility has been a boon to the local economy, accounting for a significant slice of GDP, and has given the territory a strategic value.

(234) Tokelau (20/1/11)

Three far-flung coral atolls - Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo - make up Tokelau [click here], a Polynesian territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific. Lying between New Zealand and Hawaii, Tokelau has few physical links with the wider world. There is no airport and it takes more than a day at sea to reach its southern neighbour, Samoa.

Tokelau's electorate, numbering around 600, have rejected self-rule in two separate referendums held in 2006 and 2007. Most of the 1,500 islanders live by subsistence farming. Thousands have chosen to leave, usually for New Zealand or Samoa. The latter has a similar culture and language.

(235) West Papua (21/1/11)

The western half of the island of New Guinea, north of Australia, has been called Netherlands New Guinea (1895–1962), West New Guinea (1962–63), West Irian (1963–73), Irian Jaya (1973–2001), and Papua (2002–2003), but West Papua [click here] is the name preferred by the 3 million indigenous Papuans.

The region was incorporated into the Indonesian republic in the 1960s, which remains controversial with much of the territory's indigenous population, West Papuan nationalist organisations, and some international NGOs and advocates of West Papua self-determination.

(236) Cote d'Ivoire (11/4/11)

In recent months, the media has covered the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire [click here] but largely failed to explain its origins. It all goes back, as so many African problems do, to the achievement of independence - in this case, from France in 1960. For more than three decades after independence under the leadership of its first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the country was conspicuous for its religious and ethnic harmony and its well-developed economy.

However, Houphouet-Boigny invited other Africans into the country, promising them that, if they cleared forest, the land was theirs to plant cocoa and other crops. As a result, by 1990 it was estimated that between and third and a half of the population had come from neighbouring countries, many of them Muslims from nations like Burkina Faso and Mali to the north.

When Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993, splits opened up between the mainly Muslim north and the mainly Christan south and an armed rebellion in 2002 effectively divided the nation in two. The latest manifestation of that divide came in the November 2010 presidential election when, in the view of the international community, the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo was defeated by the Muslim challenger Alassane Ouattara. Meanwhile the 20 million Ivorians are suffering the economic consequences of the protracted conflict.

(237) Diego Garcia (12/4/11)

Diego Garcia [click here] is a British-administered island in the Indian Ocean. All the 1,500 inhabitants, regardless of ancestry or employment status, were involuntarily, and some claim, forcibly, relocated to other islands in the Chagos Archipelago, or to Mauritius or the Seychelles by 1971 to satisfy the requirements of a U.K./U.S. Exchange of Notes signed in 1966 to depopulate the island when the U.S. constructed a base upon it. To this day, this involuntary relocation decision remains the subject of litigation.

So since 1971, Diego Garcia and its territorial waters out to 3 nautical miles (6 km) have been restricted from public access without permission of the British Government and is exclusively used as a military base, primarily by the United States. The U.S. operates a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space tracking facilities.

(238) Howland, Jarvis and Baker (13/4/11)

Howland Island [click here], Jarvis Island [click here], and Baker Island [click here] neighbour one another in the Pacific Ocean. They were claimed by the United States under the Guano Act of 1856. Guano, composed of phosphates, was used as fertilizer in the 19th century, and its collection was highly lucrative. Through the Guano Act, the U.S. gained 79 tiny territories around the world; it still controls eight of them.

Baker Island is an atoll with an area of approximately 1 square mile about 1,650 miles from Hawaii. Howland Island, 36 miles to the northwest, is 1 mile long and half a mile wide. On their round-the-world flight in 1937, Amelia Earhart and Fred J. Noonan were heading for Howland when they disappeared. Jarvis Island is several hundred miles to the east.

(239) Sao Tome and Principe (14/4/11)

Previously a Portuguese colony and now one of Africa's smallest countries, with a population of a mere 165,000, Sao Tome and Principe [click here] consists of two islands of volcanic origin and a number of smaller islets. It is trying to shake off its dependence on the cocoa crop, since falls in production and prices left the island state heavily reliant on foreign aid.

The government has been encouraging economic diversification and is set to exploit the billions of barrels of oil which are thought to lie off the country's coast. Drilling is under way and commercial production is expected to begin within a few years. Already though, arguments have arisen over how to spend the expected windfall, leading to political tension.

(240) Saudi Arabia (15/4/11)

While revolutionary fervour sweeps the Arab world, one country so far hardly affected - except for its intervention to support the ruler of Bahrain - is Saudi Arabia [click here]. It sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves and it is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day and rising which gives it enormous geo-political importance.

Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country of 26 million includes the Hijaz region - the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds' espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity.

Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in democracy. But political parties are banned - the opposition is organised from outside the country - and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed.

(241) Cayman Islands (20/6/11)

Once a dependency of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands [click here] came under direct British rule after Jamaica declared independence in 1962. Granted greater autonomy under a 1972 constitution, the islands are largely self-governing and economically self-sufficient. Tourism, banking and property are big money earners, having overtaken the traditional trades of fishing, turtle hunting and shipbuilding.

More than 9,000 mutual funds, some 260 banks and 80,000 companies operate through the islands meaning that the territory has more registered businesses than it has people (about 55,700). The industry has come under scrutiny and the government has enforced stricter banking regulation to counter money laundering.

(242) Faroe Islands (21/6/11)

The Faroes [click here], an archipelago of 18 islands in the North Atlantic with a population of only 50,000, constitute an autonomous region of Denmark. While the islands' rugged coastlines and extensive bird life are a draw for some, the Faroes also offer the prospect of major offshore reserves of oil and gas.

These potential resources have given extra weight to the argument for full independence from Denmark. But a planned referendum on the issue was shelved in 2001 after Denmark said it would halt aid within four years if voters favoured the independence proposals.

(243) St Kitts and Nevis (22/6/11)

The islands of St Kitts and Nevis [click here] have been in an uneasy federation since independence from Britain in 1983, with some politicians in Nevis saying the federal government in St Kitts (also known as St Christopher) - home to a majority of the population of around 50,000 - have ignored the needs of Nevisians. But a referendum on secession held in Nevis in 1998 failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to break away.

Tourism, offshore finance and service industries are important sources of income - more so since a centuries-old but loss-making sugar industry was wound down in 2005 with the loss of hundreds of jobs. By 2003, Nevis was home to around 17,000 offshore businesses operating under strict secrecy laws, making the islands a target for drugs traffickers and money launderers. Laws have been introduced to crack down on the problem.

(244) Tristan da Cunha (23/6/11)

Tristan da Cunha [click here] was at one time on the main trading route between Europe and the Indian Ocean, but the tiny community of 275 living there is now extremely isolated. It is situated 2,800 km west of Cape Town, South Africa, and is part of a group of islands which includes Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle, Stoltenhoff, and Gough which has a manned weather station.

According to Tristan da Cunha's official website [click here] the island "was ignored by early explorers as a possible home due to its rugged mountain landscape, absence of natural harbour, lack of land for agriculture, and a harsh climate with heavy rain and high winds at all seasons. It took an extra-ordinary breed of people, ready to live at the margins of life, to settle and eventually thrive in the world's most isolated community."

(245) US Virgin Islands (24/6/11)

The Virgin Islands are divided between Britain (the eastern 36) and the United States (the western 53 of which only three are inhabited). The US Virgin Islands [click here] with a population (a total of only 113,000) are St Thomas, St John and St Croix.

Motor vehicles are driven on the left-hand side of the road in both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although the steering wheels on most cars are located on the left side (as is the norm for drive-on-the-right localities). Also, the United States dollar is the official currency on both the British and U.S. Virgin Islands.

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