Everyday Emergency

The first war of independence of Chechnya with the Russian Federation starts in 1994 and runs for two years. In 1999, while the country and its people are still struggling to recover, the Russian authorities start bombing Chechnya again. Through these tough years in the North Caucasus and when access is repeatedly blocked by the Russian forces, MSF staff continues to try to provide food and medica...

Warning: This episode contains testimony related to child deaths that some listeners may find distressing. A new report by MSF lays bare the cruelty of the long-term detainment of more than 50,000 people, the majority of whom are children, in Al-Hol, northeast Syria. The camp was once designed to provide safe, temporary accommodation and humanitarian services to civilians displaced by the conflict...

From mid-1997, MSF teams try to work together again. The organisation publishes retrospective studies that trace the odyssey of the Rwandan refugees through the Zairean jungle and contributes testimony to international investigations on human rights violations in the region. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May 1997, MSF published a new study describing the movements of refugees in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the fate of refugees. MSF planned to distribute the report to a small group of journalists, asking them not to cite MSF as the source of the information. However, a lack of communication between MSF offices and with the teams in the field, exacerbates tensions. Hosted on Acast. See a...

MSF's exploratory mission teams complete their reports on their Masisi and Shabunda visits. Details of mass graves, massacres, and the fact that the ADFL used humanitarian teams as bait to lure refugees out of the forests, sent shock waves through MSF offices. A debate about the use of the information collected ensued: should it be made public or not? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

The ADFL takes control of all of the Kivu province and refugees continue to flee their rapid advance eastwards through the forest. MSF struggles to maintain access to the refugees amidst the violence, restrictions, and threats to team safety, while receiving continued reports about refugee massacres. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finally allowed into South Kivu, a province in eastern Zaire, the MSF teams discover that refugees are being massacred by the ADFL and its allies, particularly in the Massisi and the Shabunda regions. MSF realises that MSF teams are used as bait by the ADFL to lure the refugees out of the forests and kill them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 1996, the offensive led by the ADFL and Rwandan forces empties the camps in eastern Zaire of their population. Some refugees were repatriated to Rwanda and others fled into the neighboring forest. MSF denounces the repatriation conditions and is reproached by the press for "catastrophic" forecasts made a few weeks earlier. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the instability of the region increases, MSF and other humanitarian organisations are eventually forced out of eastern Zaire entirely. MSF suspects that thousands of refugees are suffering and at risk of dying. The organisation decides to launch an appeal for an armed international intervention and communicates about the plight of the population, predicting a health catastrophe, if access for a...

In 1996, MSF attempts to alert the international community about the resurgence of conflict in eastern Zaire, as witnessed by teams on the ground. The perpetrators of the Rwandan Tutsi genocide, living in refugee camps, threaten and attack the Zairean civilian population. The same perpetrators are holding Rwandan refugees that fled the 1994 genocide, hostage within the camps. The new Rwandan regim...

In this episode of Everyday Emergency, we'll listen in on a discussion about COP26, why MSF was a part of it, and what the MSF delegates attending the summit learned from their participation. The discussion is hosted by Dr Christos Christou, MSF's international president, and took place as a Twitter Spaces conversation on Friday 19 November 2021. Christos chats with Dr Maria Guevara, MSF's interna...

On 9 July 2021, the Republic of South Sudan marked its 10th birthday. This significant milestone is also marred by the bloody legacy of its first decade, including a five-year civil war. At independence, South Sudan was grappling with at least 30 humanitarian emergencies. Parts of the country were engulfed in increasingly fierce intercommunal clashes, and there was renewed conflict in border areas...

It’s 100 years since the discovery of insulin, the life-saving drug for people living with diabetes. But today, more than half of those who need this marvellous medicine still can’t access it – either because it’s too expensive or unavailable. This means millions of people are risking serious complications and even death. In this episode of Everyday Emergency, Amber Dowell reports on the challenge...

Episode 5: Mechanisms and expectationsDuration: 48 minsJustice is slow to come and still many of the nations involved are not taking responsibility for their country’s actions in the enclave. After a year of targeting the Dutch, the focus moves to France. With accusations of covert meetings and secret deals to free French hostages, MSF France puts pressure on the French parliamentarians to investi...

Episode 4: Peace agreement vs justiceDuration: 37 minsFollowing the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, 40,000 people are scattered around eastern Bosnia. Thousands are in a refugee camp around Tuzla airport, but thousands are also still missing, or dead including the 8,000 men and boys over the age of 16 massacred by Bosnian Serb forces. As July 1995 goes down in history as one of the deadliest mont...

Episode 3: The fall of Srebrenica Duration: 40 minsJuly 1995 - the fall of Srebrenica is one of the toughest chapters of the Bosnian war. It only took 10 days for the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica to fall. The two MSF staff stationed there at the time witnessed the Bosnian Serb force’s attack. Around 8,000 men and boys over the age of 16 were massacred by Bosnian Serb forces in the enclave. But how...

Episode 2: Prison doctorsDuration: 37 minsMSF has been working in the enclave for over 2 years now and has repeatedly informed the media about the difficulties it’s been having trying to get supplies, medicine, and even volunteers inside facing the haggling by the Bosnian Serbs. MSF is still the only source of medical care in the enclave, but its job is being made harder and harder as the violence...

Episode 1: Entering the enclaveDuration: 27 minsThe Muslim population trapped inside Srebrenica is living under constant shelling since the start of the war in Bosnia in 1992. Even after the UN declared the city a ‘safe area’ in March 1993, not much had changed. The joint French/Belgian MSF unit entered Srebrenica with UNPROFOR leader General Morillon in March 1993. They were the first NGO allowed...

Our producer Jess Brown looks into the potentially catastrophic secondary impacts of COVID-19 on the lives and health of women and girls. Sexual and reproductive health services are difficult to access in normal times and the secondary impacts of COVID-19 have made them even more elusive This episode includes voices from our projects in Honduras and South Africa, discussing the impacts of losing a...

Is Yemen’s a hopeless war? And what should be done when we can “only” care for people we know nothing about? In this last episode of “Inside Yemen”, Natalie takes you back to the north of the country, into the caves that serve as shelters for families when the bombs rain down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A grenade ready to explode, armed militia in a pick-up, Kalashnikovs everywhere. Ghassan and Thierry tell you about the everyday violence in Aden, the southern port where all semblance of normality has been lost. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is Ghassan’s turn to take you deep into Yemen to discover the cholera epidemic that broke out across the country in 2016 and 2017, amidst controversy and media manipulation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bernard knows Yemen well, especially his operating theatre. Let’s go to the emergency department of an MSF hospital trapped between the frontlines south of Hodeidah and surrounded by mine fields. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 1 of “Inside Yemen”, you are plunged straight into the heart of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. Natalie tells you about her journey to Saada in the mountains in the north of the country. This is Houthi territory - the target of thousands of airstrikes over the last five years. Not far away, Thierry and his expedition are heading for the besieged town of Taiz, through the mountains and at night…...

In this episode of “Inside Yemen”, Agnes and Natalie take you to Mocha on the banks of the Red Sea – a strategic crossroads just two hours from the front line where landmines are wreaking havoc among the civilian population. A tent hospital, the sound of artillery fire and an all-pervading wind: welcome to Yemen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.