Follow @{0}Keeping other outbreaks under controlDAKAR, 12 June 2014 (IRIN) – With health authorities and medical personnel battling Guinea’s first outbreak of Ebola, there have inevitably been concerns about finding the human and physical resources to combat other diseases. Unlike Ebola, measles and meningitis are well known to Guinea and require a major, coordinated response from both the state and NGOs. Despite the ‘Ebola factor’, health organizations say they have maintained their operations and are combating measles and meningitis effectively.Ebola still advancingAccording to World Health Organization (WHO), over 200 people in Guinea have died of Ebola, with 344 infected since…
Author: ARIN News
Follow @{0}Military occupations of schools can make them targetsBANGKOK, 12 June 2014 (IRIN) – Schools are targeted in conflicts around the world – they might represent ideas viewed as controversial, the destruction of a civilian building that is important to a community inflicts terror, and a school reduced to rubble can rob an entire generation of education. But attacks are only part of the problem, as significant harm can also be done when educational buildings remain intact and armed forces move in.”Attacks on educational buildings, students, teachers and academics have resulted in hundreds of students and educators being killed and…
Car children in ChadSARH, 12 June 2014 (IRIN) – The violence in Central African Republic forced 97,000 civilians to flee across the border to Chad. Some 1,200 of those in flight were unaccompanied or separated children, who now long to find their families and return to school and to safety, or at least some semblance of normality.“What I want most is to find my father,” said Lamine, 12. “I don’t know if he is alive or dead. If I knew that… then I could at least move on.”The attempts to get children back to their families have met with some…
Follow @{0}Pretender to the throne. Bodiel Ould Houmeid wants to fix Mauritania’s problemsNOUAKCHOTT, 12 June 2014 (IRIN) – President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will face four rival candidates in Mauritania’s 21 June elections, which are being boycotted by the main opposition coalition on grounds that they are a sham and its supporters claiming that the outcome is a foregone conclusion.Cheikh Sidi Ahmed Ould Babamine, the head of the 17-member opposition National Forum for Democracy and Unity (FNDU) has denounced the elections as a “masquerade”. Thousands of Mauritanians heeded opposition calls for a demonstration against the elections on June 4, flocking…
Follow @{0}Malnutrition is high among the refugeesGBITI, 6 June 2014 (IRIN) – More than 80,000 Central Africans have fled the worsening conflict into neighbouring Cameroon since the start of the year. But as the influx continues, aid officials warn that donor support is not keeping pace, hobbling relief efforts and leaving refugees ever more vulnerable.The UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR) says that only US$ 4.2 million of the $ 22.6 million it needs to assist those escaping violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) has been received, and just 12 percent of the $ 247 million requested by 15 aid groups…
Follow @{0}Making room for the neighboursLOLO, 3 June 2014 (IRIN) – New open-air butcheries and stalls now flank the unsealed road running through Lolo village in the east of Cameroon. The settlement of some 10,000 Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the 2,000-strong hamlet is firing up the local economy, but has also triggered disputes between the peasant farming community and its cattle-keeping new residents.The upsurge in violence in neighbouring Car has forced more than 80,000 people to flee into eastern Cameroon since the start of the year. Recent arrivals have suffered torturous journeys to refuge. Most have trekked for…
Follow @{0}Tsetse flies are found only in Sub-Saharan AfricaKISUMU/NAIROBI, 28 May 2014 (IRIN) – Scientists have welcomed the development of genome sequence data on the tsetse fly, the vector responsible for the transmission of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly known as sleeping sickness. They say it could be instrumental in devising strategies to eradicate the fly and reduce deaths and the spread of other diseases associated with it. “The genome data could ultimately advance knowledge on the biology of the tsetse fly and the trypanosome parasite it carries. Aspects of its biology may offer some vulnerabilities, such as the rearing…
Follow @{0}In the capital Freetown, once known as ‘the darkest city in the world’ blackouts are a part of life.FREETOWN, 27 May 2014 (IRIN) – In the face of inadequate provision of power by the Sierra Leonean government, companies are stepping in to provide solar electricity systems that ordinary Sierra Leoneans can afford.Since the 1980s Sierra Leone has been unable to reliably provide electricity to its citizens. Its capital Freetown, once dubbed “the world’s darkest city”, experiences daily power cuts. Outside the major cities the situation is far worse, with just one in 10 Sierra Leoneans having access to the…
Follow @{0}Children at the open-air informal school set up by the displaced in Doyaba campDOYABA/SIDDHO/N’DJAMENA, 26 May 2014 (IRIN) – Some 40,900 children and thousands more youths displaced by the violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) are stuck in transit camps in southern Chad with no formal school to attend, few to no training opportunities, and no jobs, leaving them with no sense of what the future will bring.“There is nothing to do here – we do nothing all day,” said Ibrahim Oumar, 25, in Doyaba transit camp near Sarh, which houses mainly Chadian returnees from CAR, many of…
Follow @{0}Looks like rain: traditional weather forecasts can involve studying termite movementsKISUMU, 23 May 2014 (IRIN) – In the latest of several partnerships between tradition and modern science aimed at improving resilience to climate change, pastoralists and meteorologists in Tanzania are working together to produce weather forecasts better suited to farmers.The hope is that by drawing from both indigenous knowledge and contemporary weather forecasting techniques, crop yields could be increased.“We wanted to see if the two can complement or supplement each other,” Isaac Yonah, a senior officer coordinating community meetings employed by the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), told IRIN by…
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…
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…