Cameroon military on the lookout for Boko Haram militants in the Far North’s Kolofata community, along the border with Nigeria. FAR NORTH, CAMEROON, 5 March 2015 (IRIN) – Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people in northern Cameroon, who lack access to school and employment, are increasingly fighting alongside Boko Haram, local authorities say. “We know Boko Haram is recruiting [youth] in Cameroon,” said Colonel Joseph Nouma of the Maroua Defense Regiment, speaking from the capital city of the Far North. “When you go to border villages, all you see are women and children and old people. Young [men], between the…
Author: ARIN News
By Prince Collins and Jennifer Lazuta Following the reopening of the land border with neighboring Sierra Leone, Krubo Kollie returns to Bo-Waterside Market, in Liberia, to sell fruit for the first time since the Ebola outbreak began.BO-WATERSIDE, LIBERIA, 4 March 2015 (IRIN) – Liberia has lifted nationwide curfews and reopened its land borders with key trading partners Sierra Leone and Guinea, but a full recovery from the economic impact of the Ebola outbreak will take time, experts say. “The reopening of the border is going to have an impact immediately, both in terms of livelihoods and the availability of food,…
Follow @{0}Half of Sierra Leone’s current Ebola cases are from one regionFREETOWN, 19 December 2014 (IRIN) – Sierra Leone is scrambling more health personnel and deploy more equipment to curb the rampant spread of Ebola in Western Area region which currently accounts for half the infections in the country. Authorities blame dangerous funeral practices, denial, and failure to report cases as some of the factors behind the surge. In the week ending 14 December, Sierra Leone reported 327 new cases, Guinea had 76 in the same period, while Liberia had eight (but only over two days), according to World Health…
Follow @{0}Refugee influx into Diffa has sparked humanitarian crisis warnings DAKAR, 12 December 2014 (IRIN) – Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram militias have driven nearly 90,000 people into neighbouring Niger’s impoverished Diffa Region this year, sparking food security and protection worries. The September-November harvest season has been favourable across Niger except in Diffa, where food insecurity is a concern especially for displaced and poor families. “The real problem in the long-run is food insecurity,” said Karl Steinacker, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Niger representative. “This [Diffa] is a food-deficient region even during normal times. The arrival of this population is going to…
Follow @{0}Sierra Leone is seeing higher infection rates than its neighboursFREETOWN, 8 December 2014 (IRIN) – In the week ending 30 November, Sierra Leone reported 537 confirmed Ebola cases, 152 more than the previous week and over four times the combined number of cases in Guinea and Liberia during the same period, according to World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest updates. For more than a month, the outbreak has been slowing in Liberia, which reported 43 cases from 24-28 November. In Guinea, where the virus was first reported in March, there has been a slight increase in cases since October. Seventy-seven…
Follow @{0}Some of the issues IRIN has reported on this week: HIV, Ebola in prisons, Ethiopian M-farming, Cash Transfers, Afghanistan corruption.DUBAI, 4 December 2014 (IRIN) – Want to stay on top of the current debate around humanitarian and development issues without having to spend hours surfing the web?Welcome to IRIN’s reading list.Every week our global network of specialist correspondents will share some of their top picks of recent must-read research, reports, blogs and in-depth articles while also highlighting key upcoming conferences and policy debates.Five to read:ISIS at the borderTwo years ago, few people would have heard of the southern Turkish…
Follow @{0}IDPs from Damboa village in Borno State take refuge at the home of a relativeDAKAR, 28 November 2014 (IRIN) – More than 400,000 people in northeastern Nigeria, who have been forced to flee their homes due to ongoing violence by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, are in “urgent need” of assistance, humanitarian agencies say. This number is likely to increase as attacks against civilians escalate.”There’s a major crisis going on in the northeast, and it’s not being recognized for the crisis it is,” said Sarah Ndikumana, country director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Nigeria. “Since late August,…
Follow @{0}Biram Dah Abeid, the Mauritanian anti-slavery activist, a few days before his arrestNOUAKCHOTT, 21 November 2014 (IRIN) – The latest arrest of a group of prominent anti-slavery activists in Mauritania has once again brought to the fore the country’s struggle with slavery and discrimination based on colour. The Global Slavery Index classifies Mauritania as the most egregious offender when it comes to modern slavery, with 155,600 people still living in enslavement or about 4 percent of the population. The index defines slavery as the status of a person who is owned by another, which could also include practices similar…
Your views are important to us. IRIN is currently reviewing its work and we need to understand your views and priorities. Follow @{0}NAIROBI, 13 November 2014 (IRIN) – IRIN has been covering the West African Ebola outbreak since March 2014, producing dozens of articles on many aspects of the crisis, including frontline reportage, critical analysis of the international response, and explanations of the disease’s ramifications for the region’s economy and food security. Now we are proud to present a multimedia production, Inside the Ebola Hot Zone. Here you will find short films portraying the work of two veritable local heroes…
Follow @{0}Aid agencies say they are being forced to think outside the box when it comes to Ebola prevention and containmentDAKAR/FREETOWN, 4 November 2014 (IRIN) – From using Bitcoins to fundraise, to adopting new strategies to prevent malaria victims appearing to be Ebola cases, to working with new partners – aid agencies in West Africa are learning to adapt fast.”The response to every humanitarian crisis has to be context specific,” said Nigel Clarke, the director of programme development and quality for Save the Children’s operations in Liberia. “That’s the key standard that humanitarian agencies utilize in all crises. But this…