Follow @{0}Two-thirds of children in southern Chad’s Doyaba camp have been vaccinated for measlesDAKAR/N’DJAMENA, 19 May 2014 (IRIN) – A measles outbreak that is spreading across sub-Saharan Africa is showing no sign of let-up as vaccine campaigners struggle to reach all at-risk children.Some 34,105 cases have been reported since the beginning of 2014 across Chad, Benin, Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and CAR, with 12,108 of them in DRC, 8,221 in Nigeria and 4,968 in Guinea. Cases in Chad have risen since January 2014, with 7,105 registered as of 5th May, and nine reported deaths, according…
Author: ARIN News
Follow @{0}Tuaregs discuss the future of northern mali in Burkina Faso’s Mentao campDJIBO, 19 May 2014 (IRIN) – Fighting has once again escalated in northern Mali’s Kidal region, with clashes between Tuareg separatists and the army reportedly killing 36 people on 16 and 17 May. Despite the failure of the 2012 rebellion in northern mali and the loss of most of the territory they briefly laid claim to, Tuareg separatists say the fight for an independent territory of Azawad is not over. Activists from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) now living as refugees in neighbouring Burkina…
Follow @{0}A small arms and ammunition investigator sifts through military materiel at a captured militia base in the DRC’s Virunga National ParkVIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, 13 May 2014 (IRIN) – Her job is to track and trace small arms and ammunition in Africa’s conflict zones. Each bullet, assault rifle, mortar, rocket or other item of military hardware she documents forms a piece of a huge jigsaw being created by the UK-based NGO Conflict Armaments Research (CAR) to map the precise flows of conflict weaponry in Africa. Moving within the ebb and flow of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) conflict, the investigator,…
Follow @{0}From refuge to homelessness ABIDJAN, 13 May 2014 (IRIN) – Tens of thousands of western Côte d’Ivoire residents who fled deadly election turmoil three years ago have returned home, where survival is a daily struggle as more than half of them remain homeless.Voluntary repatriation by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has brought home 33,702 people from neighbouring Liberia since 2011. Around 400 have also returned from Guinea and an unknown number have come back on their own. The 2010-2011 post-election conflict forced some 220,000 people to flee western Côte d’Ivoire to Liberia.UNHCR’s deputy representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Serge Ruso,…
Follow @{0}mali refugees in Burkina say they are caught between harsh camp life and insecurity fears back homeDJIBO, 9 May 2014 (IRIN) – More than a year after France’s military intervention drove out Islamist militias, northern mali appears to have regained some stability. However, Malian refugees at the Mentao camp in neighbouring Burkina Faso are wary of going back, citing security problems and unresolved political issues.At the same time they lament that deteriorating camp conditions and the poor quality of life are forcing some to return.“When you talk about food, water and health, we are in a very bad situation,”…
Follow @{0}Abdou Abdoullahi in front of his tentDOYABA/SIDDHO/BELOM/N’DJAMENA, 8 May 2014 (IRIN) – Abdou Abdoullahi stands beside the drenched makeshift shelter he built with his family in Doyaba camp in southern Chad: a few flimsy cotton shawls stretched over thin branches twisted into a cone-shape. Ten metres away lies a fetid rubbish dump and seven latrines reeking of human excrement. “This isn’t the right way to live. This does not interest us,” he said, gesticulating to the dump and the toilets beside him. Abdoullahi, a driver from the capital, Bangui, fled with his extended family of 25, after their houses,…
Follow @{0}Cost of hepatitis B treatment exceeds the means of many SenegaleseDAKAR, 8 May 2014 (IRIN) – More than two million people in Senegal, or some 15 percent of the population, including 350,000 chronic carriers, have hepatitis B as a result of untimely vaccinations, prohibitive treatment costs and lack of universal screening to curb transmissions.“It’s quite an urgent public health concern,” said Mamadou Mourtalla Ka, dean of the Thies School of Medicine in Senegal and a viral hepatitis and liver cancer researcher. “Hepatitis B is much more common than people think and causes many illnesses, many deaths here each year.”Hepatitis…
Follow @{0}Embarking on fish farming to cut back hunger in Casamance ZIGUINCHOR, 2 May 2014 (IRIN) – Reduced harvests in 2013-2014 have driven up food insecurity in Senegal’s southern Casamance Region, where a protracted insurgency and underinvestment have stifled agricultural output. Casamance, Senegal’s richest agricultural region, has the highest levels of hunger of the 10 regions in the country considered to be at risk in terms of food security. Thirty-seven percent of households in Casamance, home to some 1.8 million people or 14 percent of Senegal’s population of 13 million, are facing food shortages. Ten percent of households are experiencing…
This article is the first in a series on the intersection between Islamic law, jihadists and humanitarian norms.Islamic law is a jurist’s law – it is determined by scholars Shariah law not cut and dry: open to interpretation Expansionary jihad not a religious obligation “Allah does not love those who exceed the limits” Aid workers can negotiate Islamic pledge of security DUBAI, 24 April 2014 (IRIN) – With the majority of today’s conflicts taking place in Muslim countries or involving Muslim combatants, aid agencies are operating – arguably more than ever before – in situations where Islamic norms govern the…
This article is the second in a series on the intersection between Islamic law, jihadists and humanitarian normsIslamist rebels occupied swathes of northern Mali in 2012Debate exists among Islamists on rules of war Bin Laden was critical of “irresponsible” jihadis Prospect for humanitarians to influence behavior? Military strategy often a bigger factor than religion DUBAI, 24 April 2014 (IRIN) – In 2012, the Taliban wrote an open letter to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in response to its accusations that the militant group had killed civilians.“According to us,” the Taliban wrote, “civilians are those who are in no way…