>> hello and welcome to "global 3000," your weekly update on the issues that shape our global agenda. and here's what we have coming up for you today -- why many people fleeing conflict and poverty end up in desert camps in israel. the last of the sea nomads, trapped by laws made on land. and -- we visit the ethiopian region where the lion is still considered king.

more than 45 million people are currently fleeing conflict, persecution, and other threats worldwide. that's according to un figures. ongoing turmoil combined with poverty in some african nations have driven millions of desperate people from their homes. some of them have made their way to israel, one of the only rich nations within reach overland. despite its tight borders, the jewish state is an attractive destination for those who feel they have nothing left to lose. so, thousands make the dangerous trip through the desert to find that they are not welcome. and no matter how long they stay, they never quite seem to arrive. >> keni is in despair. six years ago, he fled to israel from darfur in southern sudan. during his flight, he was tortured. some of his family members disappeared without a trace. now he's being put into a camp in the desert.

>> i fled to israel because i was tortured in darfur. now they want to give me $3,000 to go back. but that won't help. they'll kill me there. >> a last kiss. only the men are being taken away. families and women are allowed to remain in tel aviv. keni and a few dozen other african refugees had 30 days to prepare themselves. now they're being taken in a bus to holot in southern israel. holot detention center, wasteland, sand, and barbed wire, a bleak place in the middle of the negev desert. since mid-december, african refugees whose residents' permits haven't been extended have been taken here. that now amounts to several hundred asylum-seekers and the camp has just been enlarged to accommodate up to 5,000.

holot is what's called an open detention center. inmates can move about freely, but there are strict regulations. here we meet keni again. you and he's having trouble getting used to the camp. there are attendance checks three times a day, at 6:00 a.m., noon, and 10:00 at night. afterward inmates are shut in. the food is bad, he says, no one is allowed to work. boredom reigns. >> life in prison is hard. we sit in there and look for solutions to our problems. there's huge uncertainty. in nobody wants to stay in this prison. you can't do anything in here. and outside, you're lost, because you don't have any papers. >> 250 kilometers farther north, is tel aviv, israel's second most populous city. here an entire district is marked by the misery of refugees. many here have a long escape behind them, often with dreadful

experiences. now they toil in cafés, restaurants, and hotels, usually at starvation wages, often illegally. there's hardly any support from the government. the asylum-seekers are often disparagingly termed interlopers and illegals. >> they just cause trouble. now rents are rising. we have to find a solution. we have to deport them. >> what can i say? there are constant problems. they throw stuff onto the streets and steal. we have to watch out. >> but there's also another side. many israelis are impressed by the africans' courage and motivation. in this supermarket the cooperation is working beautifully between johnny, the owner, and zadi, a sudanese refugee. a real friendship has developed here. >> zadi has a key to the shop. he works more than i do, and knows it much better. he knows everything about our products and knows our regular customers.

>> we need freedom! >> like johnny, many israelis feel solidarity with the refugees. they've been demonstrating in a peaceful and orderly fashion for weeks against israel's rigid asylum policies and against deportation to internment camps. >> there are jobs in agriculture. there are jobs in a variety of fields that could help the country. there are good solutions, but israel doesn't want to look at those solutions. it wants to neglect the problem while inciting the community, while then passing outrageous laws allowing for the ongoing incarceration. >> to avoid further criticism, the israeli government sent a parliamentary delegation to holot. after they viewed it, opinions on how to deal with the refugees were sharply divided. >> this is a good solution. too bad you journalists can't go in. the conditions are humane, there's great food and

everything's clean. >> ten people have to share one toilet. and there are lots of problems. it's cold at night and the inmates only have flip-flops. there's no heating, no air conditioning. i find the conditions here appalling. >> as a commission member, i'm proud of what my country does for these illegal refugees. >> keni has been almost completely robbed of his pride. the sudanese man was offered $3000 to return to his country and its civil war, where he faces death. he came to israel because he had hope. but now that hope is shrinking in the isolation of the desert camp. >> it's my dream to live like a human being. that's not much, but my life up to now has consisted only of wreckage and incarceration. i want to be together with my family. i'm 42 now and i've known nothing but war and destruction. i came to israel to find safety and end up in detention.

>> and now he has to go back to the center, it's noon. he has to sign in. if he doesn't, he risks prison. long after keni returns to the detention center, surprising news makes the rounds. israel has officially recognized the first refugee -- a glimmer of hope, even for the inmates of holot. >> israel recognizes far less than 1% of these people officially as refugees. and the u.n. also criticizes its practice of unlimited detention saying the country is failing to meet its international human rights obligations. ethiopia's kafa region is believed to be the cradle of one of the finest coffee strains in the world. its cloud forest also provides a safe haven for many animals, including lions. though they are much feared by the local people nobody would dare to harm them. that's because in kafa, the lion king still rules thanks to the

special place it has in the culture there. >> a television camera right in front of his fence -- that's something janu doesn't like at all. he's one of six males in the lion reserve near addis ababa. the animals have plenty of room here and lots of peace and quiet. they used to be exhibition pieces in the presidential palace. the rangers tell us lions are sensitive animals and very special ones, especially in ethiopia. we've come to this country to learn about lions -- wild, free, living in their natural habitat. so, we leave the high-rises of the capital behind us and drive

twelve hours to the south-west. paved roads become gravel tracks, barren plateaus become green rainforest. many people consider the kafa region and its cloud forest one of the most beautiful areas in ethiopia. it's a unesco biosphere reserve with an area close to 900 square kilometers, about the size of berlin. at least a dozen african lions are said to live here. the probability of sighting one of these nocturnal animals is virtually nil. still there are many residents who can tell us about the rainforest lions. after trekking over the hills of the village boka, we meet asayit haile. it's been three years since her very unusual encounter with a lion. during the night a hungry lioness broke into her hut through a hole in the wall and attacked two goats. after that, asayit says, the lion got into the family bed. >> we always sleep in the same

hut with our animals. it was pitch black and at first i didn't know what was going on. then the lion attacked me. here you can see the scars on my face and head. i didn't realize what was happening until i felt its claws and heard it growling. >> asayit was very lucky. the lioness only wounded her slightly and then left her alone. her husband says the lioness stayed in the hut for two hours, ate one of the goats and then disappeared. in the regional capital, bonga, down in the valley, few people have heard stories like that. in kafa, it's rare for lions to attack humans. the nature protection organization, nabu, has its offices in the regional capital -- lion central, so to speak. in 2011, nabu caused a scientific sensation with the report that there were lions in the cloud forest of kafa, a

non-savannah area. at the time, muluken merkuria and a photographer were commissioned to document the lions. for five days they hiked and searched for them until they happened to discover a female lion cub sleeping near the roadside. >> i'm happy, very, very happy. because this is the evidence for everybody, not only for me or the people who live around kafa, but also researchers and everybody. it is the sign that there are forest lions in kafa. >> several studies are being carried out to find out when and why lions settled in kafa on their migratory route from central to east africa, how many animals there are, and just how they live in the cloud forest.

>> the first focus of nabu is to conserve the forest, the cloud forest and its biodiversity, and lions are one of the biodiversity components. it has importance because it completes the food web chain which exists in this area. it balances also the wildlife population. >> there are other animals in kafa. whether horses, oxen or baboons, there's always something edible to satisfy a lion's hunger, quite unlike in the rest of the country. there are said to be only 1500 lions left in ethiopia, at the most. their greatest enemies are humans. the country's population is growing by about 2 million people a year and robbing the lions of their habitat. that's why nabu is especially anxious to protect the few lions in kafa and is planning to provide financial compensation to farmers whohose livestock

they've killed. in a country in which the lion is traditionally considered the king of beasts and sacred, people usually accord them deep respect. we want to find out more about that, and visit a farmer, alato ado. he's 35, has six children, a few animals, and a small hut. he's one of the poorest of the poor. and several of his animals have been killed by lions. because of that, he often takes the animals into his house, which already has hardly any room. >> we respect and honor lions. when they come and attack our livestock, we don't say they've killed them but that they've taken them. we don't complain. lions take what they need and we accept that. >> in kafa it would be out of the question to drive lions

away, let alone shoot them. we meet ibedagodo imamo, the area's spiritual leader. he's a descendant of the royal family of the former kingdom of kafa. people here listen to what he says. he invites us to a traditional coffee ceremony and to a talk about lions. >> here in kafa, people have lived with nature for generations. we respect all animals, but the lion is the king. here and in the entire country he symbolizes royalty. people see their old kings in him and honor him. that goes back many generations. when a lion dies, we treat him as if a person had died. >> ibedagodo takes us to a meadow behind the buildings. he tells us that, a few years ago, when a lion was about to attack animals from the village, he prayed to his ancestors and

the lion died. the villagers then dug a hole in the meadow, covered the lion with traditional clothing and buried it. since then its grave has been considered sacred. so, at the end of our journey, we actually have come very close to a cloud forest lion in kafa. >> some things are just too good to go out of fashion. when it comes to food that's pasta of course, and pirogue. -- pierogi. those polish dumplings filled with all sorts of yummy ingredients. yes, it's global snack time and today we head to stettin to

learn all there is to know about this popular polish dish. >> we're in szczecin, a port city in north-western poland with 400,000 residents. this snack bar has only been in existence for a year, but it's already known all over town. people come here to eat pierogi just like their mothers used to make. pierogi are traditional polish dumplings that have come back into fashion. the owner, marek rogowski, makes the pierogi here himself. his mother taught him how when he was a child. >> traditionally, pierogi are filled with cottage cheese and potatoes, sauerkraut and

mushrooms, spinach and cheese, or meat. >> just a few years ago he cooked in a polish hotel for visiting dignitaries such as helmut kohl and jacques chirac. now he serves traditional cuisine for ordinary wage-earners, starting at just 2.50 euros. >> pierogi are trendy, but they're also our tradition. people here have always eaten them, and they'll do so in the future. they taste delicious. pierogi will always be in fashion. unfortunately we don't always have time to make them at home. >> and that's why people flock to pierogarnia. more than 2000 small dumplings are eaten here daily. young and old alike love pierogi. >> i'm fed up with kebabs and hot dogs. that's why i much prefer to eat pierogi for lunch.

>> this combination of meat and thin, delicate dough tastes fabulous. and they always taste slightly different everywhere. so, it's a kind of surprise. >> childhood memories and surprise -- pierogi combine both in a single bite. >> so, don't forget to share your global snack suggestion so we can spread the word and the recipe. earlier we looked at difficulties of those who fled their homeland to escape conflict. now we meet a group of indigenous people in east asia who have never had a homeland. for centuries the bajau have lived a nomadic existence on the sea, moving between islands and countries. but many are now having to abandon their traditional way of life and settle on land. once there, they find there is no room for them in the thinking of those who rule the country. with their nomadic history, they are not recognized as nationals

in most countries. we look at how they feel trapped between two conflicting world views. >> smoothly, almost weightlessly, sulbin glides over the water. he's a member of the bajau ethnic group, traditionally marine nomads. all his ancestors lived on the water and rarely set foot on land. >> my hearts beats very calmly when i'm on the water. i love diving. on land we bajau just don't feel well. >> the sea is his home and his larder. sulbin is one the bajau's best spear-fishers. a look, a deep breath, then he disappears into the depths. sulbin dives 20 meters down with

his harpoon. his body has adapted to the immense pressure down here. almost effortlessly, he moves along the seabed. he spies his prey under the corals and shoots. on a single breath, sulbin can hunt under water for three minutes. his haul is impressive, a stingray, supper for him and his family. >> it's enough for us. on a good day, when i catch lots of fish, i sell what i don't need. then i buy myself a cigarette from time to time. >> the coastal waters off saba

province, malaysian territory, and home to these bajau. they lived here even before malaysia was founded. but a modern world with sovereign territories is pushing the liberty of the sea nomads to its limits. like most bajau, sulbin is stateless. he has no birth certificate, no id, no nationality. on the way home, he meets friends who still spend their entire lives as sea nomads on a wooden boat -- four generations. more than 20 people live on this floating shed. bingin is in his late 40's and a proud father. 11 children, four grandchildren, his mother, and his brother's family share what space there is. >> we live like our ancestors. we don't know anything else.

the boat is all we need. >> but what sounds like freedom can be a curse. the bajau pay a high price for their life on the ocean. these children have never seen a doctor. they were all born on this boat. many of their siblings died young. one of the sons has had stabbing pains in his chest for days. his mother is convinced that evil sea spirits have possessed him. she'll use marinated lemon grass to relieve his pain. >> he's possessed. in his dreams he keeps seeing his grandmother calling him. but we don't have the money to take him to a hospital. >> the boat docks, but access to a health facility is still barred to the sea nomads.

sulbin moves on. he gave up life on the water 20 years ago. he could no longer afford a large boat. his new home is the island of mabul on malaysian territory. more than 2000 bajau have settled here on just 20 hectares, a sea-nomad ghetto in the middle of paradise. sulbin lives in a wooden hut with his wife angnora and their two children. here on mabul they're tolerated by the authorities. but they can't just travel to the mainland, because on paper they remain illegal immigrants. if push comes to shove, that can mean a few days or even weeks in prison. >> the government won't give us ids or passports. every time we go to the mainland

we have to be careful. we're always afraid we'll be checked by the police. >> sometimes the island of mabul feels like a prison without walls to them. a life without a papers, without an identity. for the children in particular, that means a life on the edges of society. when they're not begging or collecting rubbish, they play, all day long. there is a school on mabul, but only children with malaysian citizenship can attend it. the bajau are unwanted. at sulbin's home, the day's catch is being prepared. it's a hand-to-mouth existence. even after 20 years on malaysian soil, he feels unwelcome. and he doesn't know what future he can offer his children.

>> what i'd like most is to show my children life on the water. but we can't afford a boat, and here on the island we remain foreigners. >> and the government of malaysia is doing little to change that. it's said the bajau become land-sick if they're on terra firma for too long. but in malaysia they're waiting in vain for the medicine they really need -- recognition. in!!>> the bajau authority make part of -- the bajau already make up a considerable part of the population in the state of sabah in malaysia.

one can only hope that the law will catch up with the reality on the ground soon. and that was "global 3000." thanks for watching and bye-bye