By Sarah DiLorenzo Checkpoint, JosDAKAR, 6 August 2014 (IRIN) – Rights groups in Nigeria are calling for an independent investigation into evidence of abuses as video footage obtained by human rights group Amnesty International appears to show members of the Nigerian military brutally beating and murdering suspected militants in the country’s north. Northern Nigerians are being squeezed on all sides: under attack by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of civilians and displaced 250,000, abducted children, and burnt down hundreds of villages, among other abuses; and also targeted by the soldiers ostensibly sent to protect them.…
Author: ARIN News
Follow @{0}Millions of Nigerien children will again go hungry this year (file photo)DAKAR, 4 August 2014 (IRIN) – More donor support is needed to help close the US$1.5 billion funding gap in the Sahel this year and protect the livelihoods of the estimated 20.2 million people who are at risk of food insecurity. Only 30 percent of the $2.2 billion appeal to fight hunger and malnutrition, and build resilience in the region has been met by donors as of July, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).”The funding for the whole effort is what I…
Follow @{0}Fruit bats are the most likely reservoir for Ebola virusCONAKRY, 1 August 2014 (IRIN) – Medical teams struggling to curb Ebola in West Africa have been discouraging bush meat consumption, believed to have caused the outbreak, but some rural communities dependent on the meat for protein are determined to continue their traditional hunting practices.While meat from wild animals such as fruit bats, rodents and forest antelopes have largely disappeared from market stalls in main towns like Guéckédou (in southern Guinea and the epicentre of the disease) or the capital Conakry following campaigns to avoid contamination, it is still being…
Follow @{0}An MSF health worker in Kailahun has his protective suit disinfected as he exits the Ebola isolation ward.KENEMA/KAILAHUN/FREETOWN/MONROVIA, 31 July 2014 (IRIN) – A shortage of trained health workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea who can treat Ebola victims and prevent further spread of the deadly disease is hampering response efforts, say Health Ministry and NGO staff, who say their efforts are at “breaking point”.Stéphane Doyone, West Africa coordinator of NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is shouldering a bulk of the case management burden in the three countries, told IRIN: “We are reaching the breaking point of…
Follow @{0}Sending “death squads” on peacekeeping?BANGKOK, 29 July 2014 (IRIN) – Reports on Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Nigeria released in July 2014 at the Open Society Institute in New York reveal failures in human rights vetting for soldiers in countries that contribute to UN peacekeeping operations. “These are four of the top seven troop-contributing countries in the world, so their policies and practices on the ground are important to what happens when people are deployed in the field,” said Jerry Fowler, senior policy analyst at Open Society Policy Center. There are currently more than 82,000 troops deployed on UN peacekeeping…
Follow @{0}Countering Boko Haram’s cross-border raidsYAOUNDE, 24 July 2014 (IRIN) – Nigerian radical Islamist group Boko Haram’s free-wheeling ruthlessness is increasingly troubling the remote Far North Region of Cameroon, which has seen several attacks in recent months, with foreigners also abducted for ransom.This month, heavily armed men suspected to be Boko Haram fighters attacked Bonderi village 5km from the border with Nigeria and stole a military vehicle, four motorbikes and weapons from the gendarmerie base there, government officials told IRIN.Another group of suspected Boko Haram gunmen also raided a gendarmerie border post in Zina town on 8 July, three days…
Follow @{0}Shipping out rosewood. Conservationists decry forest plunderBISSAU, 22 July 2014 (IRIN) – During the March-May cashew nut harvesting season, it is normal to see heavy trucks line Amílcar Cabral Avenue in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital, waiting to offload their cargo onto ships. But when they line up all year long, suspicion is raised, especially when demand for the country’s cashews has plummeted.From interior regions of Guinea-Bissau, the trucks openly haul tree trunks, said Constantino Correia, an agro-engineer and former director of the country’s forest management agency. The cargo, mainly African rosewood, is destined for China, according to Abílio Rachid Said…
Follow @{0}Poster in Monrovia intended to raise awareness of rape (file photo)MONROVIA/DAKAR, 18 July 2014 (IRIN) – Rates of sexual violence in post-war Liberia are still “extremely high” according to a recently published report by UK-based think tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).Rape remains one of the most frequently reported crimes in Liberia, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Gender and Development, and the incidence of sexual violence against women in Liberia is among the highest in the world. “It’s true we are out of conflict, but we still have this issue of rape as a big problem here,” said Rosana…
Follow @{0}Death of colleagues has terrified Liberian health workersMONROVIA, 15 July 2014 (IRIN) – Panicked and shocked Liberian health workers who have seen their colleagues die of Ebola, which has killed more than 500 people in West Africa since January, are abandoning their work stations, hoping to resume only when the disease subsides.Their frustrations have been compounded by the lack of adequate medical equipment. Those who remain at work face a heavier workload. The authorities say they are conducting training and supplying equipment to bolster Ebola control.“We have many challenges at this local health centre,” said McFarland Kerkulah, a doctor…
We’re in the money – cash can mean opportunityNEW YORK, 10 July 2014 (IRIN) – A cash injection of as little as US$12 per month for an impoverished family could determine whether a child eats properly or goes to school or not. With cash transfer programmes around the world now having a profound impact on the lives of poor people, the debate is less about whether to implement them than how to do so. Handing out cash rather than food or other basic survival supplies to the needy is a fairly recent phenomenon that began in several Latin American countries, including…
Separatist rebel fighters on patrol after seizing territory 1.9 million people need food assistance Inter-rebel clashes cause displacement Insecurity hampers distribution of supplies GAO, 10 July 2014 (IRIN) – Only just recovering from a brutal Islamist occupation, residents of northern mali are facing further devastation following recent clashes between separatist rebel forces and government troops. The violence has heightened insecurity, throttled an already difficult aid operation and driven up hunger. Parts of Mali’s north have fallen back into the hands of three separatist rebel groups since the clashes in May in northern Kidal Region. More than 18,000 people were forced…
Your views are important to us. IRIN is currently reviewing its work and we need to understand your views and priorities. Follow @{0} [embedded content] A health worker checks a blood sample for Ebola at Kenema government hospital, Sierra Leone KENEMA, 9 July 2014 (IRIN) – Hasan Kamara patiently labels blood samples at the government hospital in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone. The country, alongside neighbouring Guinea and Liberia, is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of Ebola on record, with 481 people having died from the incurable disease in the three countries as of 2 July.Seven health workers infected with Ebola…
Women at Doro refugee camp in South sudan collect their monthly food rationsJOHANNESBURG, 7 July 2014 (IRIN) – The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have launched an urgent appeal to address a funding shortfall that has already resulted in food ration cuts for a third of all African refugees. As of mid-June, nearly 800,000 refugees in 22 African countries have seen their monthly food allocations reduced, most of them by more than half. WFP is appealing for US$186 million to maintain its food assistance to refugees in Africa through the end of the year, while UNHCR…
Follow @{0}Exposing poor preparation. The raging waters killed 23 peopleABIDJAN, 4 July 2014 (IRIN) – Recent heavy downpours and flooding in Côte d’Ivoire have killed dozens of people, washed away houses and once again highlighted poor disaster preparedness in the country’s largest city.Landslides triggered by torrential rain in early June killed 23 people in the commercial capital Abidjan, according to the National Civil Defence Office (ONPC). “Every year, at the same time, it is the same thing that we witness. Rains kill people and the authorities still don’t have any solution to save us,” lamented Karim Konaté, a resident of…
Follow @{0}The Hague-based court. Its action on Côte d’Ivoire has revived criticism of biasABIDJAN, 27 June 2014 (IRIN) – The recent confirmation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that charges against Lauren Gbagbo still stand has reignited criticism about the court’s approach to Côte d’Ivoire and its alleged failure to deal even-handedly with a highly complex post-conflict situation.The former Ivoirian president will go to trial facing four counts of crimes against humanity: murder, rape and other sexual violence, persecution and other inhuman acts. The charges relate to the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011 following Côte d’Ivoire’s bitter divisions over who won…
Follow @{0}The Ebola virus. Hopes to curb its spread in West Africa have been dashedCONAKRY, 26 June 2014 (IRIN) – A months-long battle to bring West Africa’s Ebola outbreak under control has stretched medical teams to the limit, while mistrust in some communities has impaired prevention work and raised questions about the delivery of health warnings.The outbreak, which was first declared in March in southeast Guinea, should have been winding down now, with cases reducing as controls take effect, said Armand Sprecher, a public health specialist with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Guinea.Sprecher, who has worked on haemorrhagic fever outbreaks…
Follow @{0}Squeezed out by large-scale land buyersSAINT LOUIS, 24 June 2014 (IRIN) – Senegalese smallholder Doudou Sow is furious. Over the last 10 years, he says, farmers have been squeezed out by an influx of private investors acquiring fertile arable land in the Senegal River Valley where he has worked as a farmer for the last two decades.“I do not understand why hundreds of hectares are being given to outsiders when the priority should be to make land available to our own farmers,” protests Sow, a native of Saint Louis Region in the north of Senegal.A liberal land regime in…
Follow @{0}Ramping up security as migrants sneak into towns BERTOUA, 19 June 2014 (IRIN) – Frustrated by their living conditions, refugees and other migrants are streaming into towns in eastern Cameroon in search of jobs and a fresh start. But there are concerns in the region about the impact of the new arrivals in urban areas and emerging tensions between the newcomers and existing town-dwellers.Some 226,000 people have fled Car to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo since December 2013. Of the four host countries, Cameroon has the largest number of refugees. Moving…
Follow @{0}Starting afresh after a post-coup ballot BISSAU, 16 June 2014 (IRIN) – The recent successful holding of legislative and presidential elections has raised hopes that Guinea-Bissau can move closer to the end of a two-year political crisis marked by international isolation and a devastating economic decline.A post-elections rapprochementThe results were accepted by the population, international opinion and political rivals. There were concerns that the military, with a history of meddling in politics, would create problems if its preferred candidate, Nuno Gomes Nabiam, lost. But in a surprising move, António Indjai, the army chief and leader of the April 2012…
Your views are important to us. IRIN is currently reviewing its work and we need to understand your views and priorities. Follow @{0} [embedded content] NAIROBI, 12 June 2014 (IRIN) – Twelve years after Sierra Leone’s long civil war came to an end, its broken institutions and weak development indicators continue to impact on the lives of its people. And as ever it’s women who bear the brunt. Aside from the usual grim data, one statistic stands out: the number of female prisoners has doubled over the past three years. IRIN’s latest film, Women Behind Bars, tries to understand why…