North Korea is by far the first

Recently, US President George Bush at a ceremony asked the audience, which included a large number of humanitarian workers and human rights activists, which country was the worst in the world. "Congo, Mr. President," was the reply. "And, yes, that Paul Kabila recently visited me," the president recalled. "And what is the second worst country," he asked. "Afghanistan, Mr. president,” someone replied. "That's right, those crazy people are tearing down monuments there," President Bush recalled.

What condition does a country have to be in to make it to the "Ten Worst Countries in the World" list? The basic characteristics are most often tyranny, chaos and deep-rooted corruption, where the lesser presence of one of these factors usually diminishes the presence of the others.

Recently, the American weekly "Newsweek" published its list of "Ten worst countries in the world", in which North Korea took the first place, because, according to the author, all the forces that produce misery, total despotism and the collapse of the system are concentrated there.

The list did not include countries like Colombia, where anyone even remotely affluent has good reason to fear for their lives, as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnap anyone they think they can hold for ransom. People who are able to pay their bill at a supermarket with a credit card are increasingly targeted for kidnapping.

Also, Madagascar is not on the list, where farmers wantonly clear the rainforests to grow cheap rice, thus not only disrupting the natural balance but depriving the country of many natural resources on which economic growth could be based. Neither is Indonesia, which has become synonymous with instability.

1. North Korea

The entire country is a gulag where the citizens are forced to celebrate the "Great Leader" Kim Il-yong (and his father Kim Il-sung) who in return starves them and forces them to die of exhaustion.

2. Afghanistan

The terrible drought that hit Afghanistan has forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee from rural areas, and over a million of them are starving. As if the years of civil war, during which the Taliban extended their rule over almost 90 percent of the territory of the country where women do not have even minimal civil rights, were not enough causes of misery...

3. Sierra Lion

The scene of one of the most gruesome civil wars in the history of the world. Since 1991, in the war between government forces and the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives, and even more have been maimed. A country where seven-year-olds handle Kalashnikovs and machetes better than football. More than a third of the population are now refugees in neighboring countries. The situation has slightly improved since the signing of the peace agreement in July 1999, since about 6000 members of the UN peacekeeping forces have been deployed in Sierra Leone.

4. Sudan

Civil war between different ethnic groups has devastated the country to the extent that it barely qualifies for the notion of a state as it is known in the modern world. Since Sudan gained independence from Great Britain in 1956, the Islamic government has fueled conflict with the Christian population in the south. In the two decades that the conflicts have been going on, more than one and a half million people have lost their lives, and several million people are refugees.

5. Angola

The civil war has been going on for more than a quarter of a century, since Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975. In April 1997, a Government of National Unity was created, which included members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), but fierce fighting resumed at the end of 1998. and they continue today. Over one and a half million people lost their lives in the fighting in the last twenty-five years.

6. Tajikistan

The poorest country of the former Soviet Union. Since independence in 1991, Tajikistan has seen three changes of government and a civil war between the government's authoritarian forces and the leaders of various commanders. Russian peacekeeping troops are stationed in Tajikistan, and opposition parties have recently been registered and have announced their participation in the elections, which gives hope that conditions in the country could stabilize.

7. Democratic Republika Congo

Or, until 1994, Zaire. Congo is ravaged by all the evils of our time: poverty, AIDS and other deadly diseases, civil war, ethnic conflicts, foreign intervention, corruption... On top of that, hundreds of thousands of refugees from the neighboring countries of Rwanda and Burundi, which were engulfed in civil war, poured into the country.

8. Albanija

The most profitable economic branch is smuggling, and in the hands of criminalized groups and individuals there is more property than the central government has.

9. Haiti

One of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, where political violence has not stopped since the birth of the state. He has behind him three decades of dictatorship that turned this potential paradise on earth, in the Caribbean, into hell. The military dictatorship ended in 1990, when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president, whose power was threatened all the time by the military leadership.

10. Iraq

Decades of international sanctions and the isolation and dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, combined with the military intervention of the USA and Great Britain, make this country a world pariah.