२० Problems

So these are 20 problems that I believe are touched on in the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah.

1. The use of child soldiers in conflicts causing semi-permanent and permanent psychological damage to the children.
2. The use of child soldiers in conflicts causing semi-permanent and permanent psychological damage to the parents of the children.
3. The use of child soldiers in conflicts causing permanent physical disability and sometimes death to the children.
4. The negative effect on food production in a conflict area due to destruction of arable lands.
5. The negative effect on food production in a conflict area due to lack of farmers.
6. The lack of trust between people due to fear of rebels/army in disguise.
7. The high mortality rate of civilians causing a loss of skilled workers and knowledge in general.
8. The lack of gun control increases the mortality rate because more people can get ahold of AK 47's.
9. The slow rate of food production causes food shortages that cause starvation and malnutrition in the population.
10. The media fails to cover the civil wars that we (Americans) are directly and indirectly funding so that people cannot make informed decisions about whether or not to buy conflict items.
11. The lack of media coverage causes Americans to view war in a casual manner, and consequently to not care about war.
12. The difficulty for interested parties in distinguishing which side to aid in a civil war. Hard to determine who is in the right because both sides use the same brutal methods.
13. Rape
14. Released livestock gone feral, such as pigs, are dangers to the civilians, especially those hiding in the wilderness from armies.
15. The ignorance of people trying to rehabilitate the child soldiers. They treat them like normal children instead of brainwashed soldiers.
16. The political struggles involved in war are often not understood by the people fighting them.
17. The existence of corrupt government
18. The fact that replacements for corrupt government are usually equally corrupt.
19. Poverty
20. The loss of habitat for animals in wild areas that become war zones causing the populations of some animals to drop.

The problem of deciding who to help in a conflict is an interesting one. I can see 3 possible solutions to it. First, you can decide to help neither side and just distance yourself from until it burns out. Not only does this cause criticism for being uncaring, this is a harder prospect than it first seems because, in the instance of Sierra Leone, if you buy something that the country exports than you are helping either one side or the other through funding. So you decide to help one side so that you at least have some control over who you were helping. Do you choose the side of the established government because they are the "rightful" authority? Do you choose the side of the rebels because they are fighting to bring down the corrupt government? Either way, your problem now becomes getting your populace to support your decision.