Follow @{0}A woman breastfeeds her baby in Garin Badjini village, Niger (file photo)NIAMEY/DAKAR, 27 February 2014 (IRIN) – Niger has made remarkable progress in cutting under-five mortality over the past decade, and it looks set to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reducing child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015. But high maternal mortality, skyrocketing population growth and low government capacity are still impeding progress, say partners and health practitioners.Child and infant mortality figures have dropped year-on-year for the past decade. The infant mortality rate – deaths has among children under age one per 1,000 live births – dropped…
Author: ARIN News
Follow @{0}Wedding celebration. Timbuktu residents say reconciliation is possible after a divisive Islamist ruleTIMBUKTU, 27 February 2014 (IRIN) – Residents of Timbuktu, Mali’s cultural capital, are hopeful the city can draw on its long history of tolerance to heal social relations frayed by a 10-month Islamist occupation, which Arab and Tuareg communities are still being accused of having abetted.In his book* on the recent Islamist occupation of Timbuktu, senior government official Houday Ag Mohamed, a Tuareg, explains that successive insurgencies over the years led to a wave of discrimination and hostility against Tuareg and Arabs living in mali. It is…
Follow @{0}Gbagbo supporters at a rally. There are worries over Côte d’Ivoire’s 2015 poll preparations ABIDJAN, 26 February 2014 (IRIN) – As Côte d’Ivoire inches closer to its first elections since the violently disputed polls of 2010, efforts to deliver justice, promote reconciliation and disarm fighters are being criticized for failing to shield the country from renewed instability. Since taking power, the government of President Alassane Ouattara has been dogged by accusations of carrying out only partial justice in response to the clashes, which killed at least 3,000 people following the November 2010 presidential run-off. The bulk of those detained…
Follow @{0}Home-grown solutions are cheap and effective: Children in Namibia eat a meal made from products sourced from their fieldJOHANNESBURG, 24 February 2014 (IRIN) – Rwanda has achieved remarkable success in reducing child hunger, and nutrition experts believe there may be lessons here for other countries in Africa. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a 2013 report on progress in tackling malnutrition, noted that in 2005 more than half of Rwanda’s children under five years of age – about 800,000 – were stunted. “Just five years later, stunting prevalence had decreased from an estimated 52 percent to 44 percent,” the report…
Follow @{0}A pile of rifles after disarmament in eastern DRC. Weapons smuggling to Boko Haram is heightening insecurity in northern CameroonYAOUNDE, 21 February 2014 (IRIN) – Recent arms seizures and arrests of traffickers in Cameroon’s Far North Region have highlighted the escalating insecurity caused by Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria and the impact of the unrest in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.In January, Cameroon’s security forces arrested a man attempting to transport 655 guns to Nigeria. In September 2013, 5,400 AK-47 rifles were seized on a pick-up truck in Maroua, the capital of Far North Region, according to…
Follow @{0}An FARDC soldier takes a break on the frontline during 2013 operations against the armed group M23New rapid reaction mechanism (ACIRC) gains traction Nigeria cool on ACIRC Recent interventions in DRC spark debate Some African military interventions too partisan JOHANNESBURG, 21 February 2014 (IRIN) – The African Union (AU) is rethinking on how it can most effectively deploy military forces to tackle the continent’s crises. The African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC) was first floated in the AU in 2013 as a stop-gap measure to counter the continued delays of an African Standby Force (ASF), which includes…
Follow @{0}A Chadian baby receiving vaccination. A meningitis vaccine being used outside the cold chain is boosting reachDAKAR, 20 February 2014 (IRIN) – A pilot meningitis A immunization campaign targeting more than 155,000 people in Benin with a vaccine that does not require constant refrigeration has demonstrated clear benefits, enabling wider reach, more efficient administration and potential cost reduction, researchers say.Most vaccines must be kept cold, at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, but the meningitis A vaccine known as MenAfriVac can be stored for up to four days at up to 40 degrees Celsius without any loss of…
Follow @{0}A nine-month long military crackdown is yet to break the back of Boko HaramABUJA, 19 February 2014 (IRIN) – Hoping to snuff out Boko Haram, Nigerian forces launched a crackdown in May 2013, swooping into towns, rounding up hundreds of youths and strafing suspected hideouts of the militia, who, despite being pushed back, continue to torment civilians and target security forces.In the latest attack on 15 February, more than a hundred people were killed in the northeastern Borno State by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.But over the course of its crackdown, the military has been accused by rights groups of…
By Chris Simpson Malian soldiers participate in training run by the EUBAMAKO, 17 February 2014 (IRIN) – Despite international efforts to restore peace in Mali, the northern region of Kidal remains an MNLA stronghold. While the rest of Mali slowly recovers from the rebel takeover and Islamist occupation, officials worry the distrust and enmity lingering in Kidal could destabilize the country.”Sandy” El Hadj Baba Haïdara, who has just lost his seat as the National Assembly representative for Timbuktu, says Mali’s destiny is tied up with Kidal, a former garrison town in the remote Adrar des Ifoghas region.”You find people saying…
Follow @{0}Faeqa Saeed Al-Saleh, Joint General Secretary at the League of Arab States, with women in Beydia TaboyettGORGOL/BRAKNA, 17 February 2014 (IRIN) – Drought-prone, chronically hungry Mauritania, with the help of the UN, is reaching out to Arab donors, encouraging them to reach beyond their customary role in development and engage in humanitarian response.Traditional humanitarian donors are largely members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC). But non-traditional, non-DAC donors’ contributions to humanitarian financing have been increasing in recent years. And with many Western donors cutting budgets amid fears of another recession, the Gulf…
Follow @{0}The devastation of the 2012 floods lingers onIBAJI, 14 February 2014 (IRIN) – Residents displaced by the 2012 deluge in Nigeria’s Kogi State have by now returned to their villages, where the lingering destruction and scarcity of food have increased hardship. But the struggle to recover has also inspired agricultural transformation.The floods were the country’s worst in four decades. Some seven million people across Nigeria were affected in 2012. Kogi State, where the River Niger and the River Benue merge, was the most devastated, with around 1.3 million people affected, roads cut off and homes, farms and food stocks…
Follow @{0}Houses along the coast of BakassiDAKAR, 12 February 2014 (IRIN) – Twelve years after an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling demarcated the Cameroon-Nigeria border, the UN and the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria are making headway in physically laying down the border and helping develop the long-marginalized oil-rich Bakassi region. But while many positive lessons can be drawn from the Nigeria-Cameroon demarcation process, when it comes to development, there remains much work to do, say Bakassi residents.The Cameroon and Nigeria government have overcome tense periods of negotiation over control of Bakassi, in the Gulf of Guinea, and the…
By Chris Simpson The war in the desert – old rivalries must end TIMBUKTU, 12 February 2014 (IRIN) – The ‘Flamme de la Paix’ monument lies on the northwestern outskirts of Timbukutu, mali. There, on 27 March 1996, hundreds of weapons were symbolically destroyed, and representatives from the Malian government and Tuareg rebel movements promised to promote peace and reconciliation in a region wracked by bitter conflict.But 16 years later, the country descended into its worst crisis ever. Mali’s north, including Timbuktu, was overrun by both Tuareg separatists and Jihadists; the south witnessed a coup and the temporary collapse of…
Follow @{0}Young unemployed men play cards in a warehouse in Guinean capital ConakryDAKAR, 10 February 2014 (IRIN) – Youth unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development in West Africa, say experts. Not only does the exclusion of young people from the labour force perpetuate generational cycles of poverty, it also breaks down social cohesion and can be associated with higher levels of crime and violence among idle youth.”A decent and productive job [not only] contributes to attaining fundamental individual and family well-being, but also spills over, contributing to society’s broader objectives, such as poverty reduction, economy-wide productivity…
Follow @{0}Routine immunizations are hampered by Boko Haram insurgencyKANO, 5 February 2014 (IRIN) – Persistent attacks by Boko Haram (BH) militants in Nigeria’s Borno State have forced dozens of clinics to shut down and hundreds of doctors to flee, leaving many residents to seek medical attention across the border in Cameroon, health professionals and residents told IRIN.Musa Babakura, a surgeon at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) in Maiduguri, told IRIN: “There is a growing health crisis in northern Borno, where most doctors and medical personnel have left the area due to security threat[s] from Boko Haram, forcing thousands to…
Follow @{0}A four-by-four exits Freetown’s Kroo Bay slumFREETOWN, 4 February 2014 (IRIN) – Since the late 1990s, as the aid sector has matured, agencies around the world have grappled with the challenge of becoming more accountable to their intended beneficiaries. IRIN spoke with aid watchdogs and NGO staff to assess the fruitfulness of these efforts in Sierra Leone, where a weak government has left NGOs with a central role.Accountability has come to the fore as governments and disaster survivors increasingly demand greater answerability from aid agencies, using new technologies to communicate their views. Aid agencies have also recognized the perils…
Follow @{0}There is need to consider the poor in re-planning African cities NAIROBI, 4 February 2014 (IRIN) – Plans to reshape and modernize African cities, in part driven by investment, architecture and construction companies seeking new markets, could deepen existing social inequalities, according to recent research. But these development plans could also benefit the poor if governments are responsive to the needs of their citizens, argue analysts.The implementation of these development plans within existing cities is having major exclusionary effects on vulnerable low-income groups through evictions and relocations, states the journal article “African urban fantasies: dreams or nightmares?”. This is because…
It’s hard to grow vegetables in Mauritania’s drought-ridden Gorgol region.DAKAR, 3 February 2014 (IRIN) – Over 20 million people in the Sahel will need humanitarian assistance in 2014, up 8.7 million over the number of people in need in 2013, estimates the UN, which launched an ambitious three-year Sahel strategy today. Driving the surge in the numbers of people going hungry is a severe deterioration in people’s access to affordable food in northern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and Senegal. Together, these countries represent over 40 percent of the overall food insecurity caseload, says the UN. At five million, the number of…
Displaced and host families in Gasseré village wait for UNHCR to distribute blankets and kitchen kitsGASSERE/BOSSO/DIFFA, 30 January 2014 (IRIN) – Up to 37,000 people – both Nigerians and Nigeriens – have fled Boko Haram violence in northeastern Nigeria since early 2012, and most are sheltering with families in neighbouring Niger, but the aid response thus far has been patchy. Government efforts to register the displaced have been slow, and the refugees among them have yet to be given refugee status. In the latest attacks on 26 January, suspected Boko Haram militants killed over 100 people in the villages of…
Battling chronic diseases will be the major Arab health care challenge for the next generationLONDON, 30 January 2014 (IRIN) – Healthcare needs are changing in the Arab world, and chronic diseases linked to rising prosperity and aging populations are forcing health services to retool, even as the region grapples with political turmoil and uncertainty. Health in the Arab World: a view from within, a new series of papers put together at the American University in Beirut and published by the medical journal The Lancet, examines these changes and challenges. The series looks at the situation across the Arab League, including,…