Conditions in West Africa are violent, poor and grossly ignored, according to a group who gathered to discuss the current situations of refugees on Wednesday.

The panel, which met in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union, was sponsored by Amnesty International, a human rights group for prisoners of conscience.

Five panel members represented different countries primarily along the coast of West Africa, including Mauritania, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Panel members answered various questions and described the current situation within their countries.

Conditions in the refugee camps, said some panel members, are “very frightening.”

Refugees are left with few options for living. In some instances, panel members said, refugees participate in criminal acts, such as stealing food and selling it at higher prices to the general public.

Many intellectual people flee the continent in fear of going into concentration camps. Panel members said leaving these countries worsens the problem because citizens usually do not return or offer help to improve conditions in their countries.

Government officials in Sierra Leone are now encouraging individuals and families who fled the country to return. One panel member described the country as “being in a state of flux.”

Most panel members said children suffered the most in these countries because they lose the chance to obtain an education and are forced into poverty.

According to the panel, many children do not receive proper nutrition and die from diseases.

Children’s lives also are affected by violence. Panel members traded stories of youths becoming rebels after losing family members in battles and noted that children as young as six and seven years old carry guns and machetes to defend themselves.

Many of the panel members saw reasons for the conflict as political.

They said greed and power struggles are rampant in West Africa, and that many people who are jealous of government officials revolt against them.