4) Central African Republic (CAR)
On paper CAR should be a wonderfully rich country, it has uranium, crude oil, diamonds, gold, lumber and arable land, but it’s people are some of the poorest on earth. In the Human Development Index they come 179th out of 187 and more than 90% of their total population are confined to slums.
That in itself is a pretty good reason to cross it off your holiday list. But there are some other more violent reasons to avoid the country too.
There is a constant hatred bubbling between Muslims and Christians in CAR, and those bloody bubbles regularly burst. In September 2014 French troops entered the country in a bid to keep the peace, and human rights groups have expanded their activities. In October 2014 at least 12 Muslim Séléka fighters were killed by “anti-Balaka” Christian militias.
On 7 October 2014 there was a violent demonstration in front of the UN Peacekeeping Operation’s (MINUSCA) Military Headquarters in central Bangui. Already this year there have been a number of kidnappings of government ministers and humanitarian and UN workers.
Swerve it, although, the weather is lovely and warm.
