rritorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and
unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border
activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial
disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they
may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic clashes continue
to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around
the world; disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form
the source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of
contention include access to water and mineral (especially
petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless, most
nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to
resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully; regional
discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local
populations, often leaving the world community to cope with
resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation,
and desertification

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated
that in December 2003 there was a global population of 9.7 million
refugees and as many as 25 million IDPs

Illicit drugs:
cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450 hectares
- almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia;
potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric
tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca
eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376
metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been
seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or
destroyed); consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to
have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944
hectares in 2003 - mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia - with 44%
in Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium,
which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric
tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken
in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and
Vietnam

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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@Yemen

Introduction Yemen

Background:
North Yemen became indepen