Survivors were given soap but no water, condoms but not food. Families forced to bathe babies in sewer-contaminated water were sent risible hygiene text messages telling them to wash their hands before eating. On top of this, cholera was imported — almost certainly by United Nations troops — to a country that had, until then, been clean of the disease. Another 8,300 people were killed, and more than half-a-million contracted the disease, which has since spread to neighbouring countries. The respected medical magazine The Lancet accused charities of competing for publicity, while I saw how their staff rented unnecessarily expensive flats, drove around in fleets of costly new vehicles and … Continue reading Ian Birrell