Articles

Mali’s ban on two major international broadcasters operating inside the country is a worrying development in itself but it also reflects growing regional intolerance towards freedom of expression, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. Highlighting the “pervasive chilling effect on journalists and bloggers” of the situation in the west African nation, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that the move against Radio France International (RFI) and France24 was just “the latest in...

An Ebola vaccination campaign has begun in northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to halt the spread of a deadly new outbreak in the country, where the disease is endemic. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that people have now been inoculated in Mbandaka, the capital city of Equateur Province west. It follows the deaths of two people from Ebola since 21 April. More than 230 contacts of the deceased have been identified and monitored and three vaccination...

Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region has been hit by three consecutive below-average rainy seasons, worsening the already deteriorating humanitarian situation for around 3.5 million people, more than half the local population. As a result of the drought, Zeineba, 60, was forced into the most difficult decision of her life: to leave her neighborhood behind and move to another village, to save her life and that of her family. “My livestock perished from lack of water and pasture, and could not...

Time is fast running out, the UN agency warned, with Somalia facing “the very real risk of famine” in the coming six months. Extended drought is fueling hunger across the Horn of Africa: https://t.co/pS9YRTJ7nV — World Food Programme (@WFP) April 19, 2022 Meanwhile, an estimated 7.2 million Ethiopians are already not getting enough to eat, and half a million Kenyans are just a step away from catastrophic levels of hunger and malnutrition. Early action works “We know from past...

The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine. The contribution from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), announced on Thursday, will go towards relief projects in six African countries and Yemen. Lifesaving relief The money will enable UN agencies and their partners to provide critical support, including food, cash, nutritional help, medical services...

COVID-19 cases in Africa have fallen for the past 16 weeks, and deaths have dropped during the last eight, marking the longest-running decline in infections on the continent since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. Infections have plummeted from over 308,000 cases weekly at the start of the year to less than 20,000 in the week ending 10 April. Around 18,000 cases and 239 deaths were recorded over the past week, representing respective...

The conflict in Ukraine is driving up global food and fuel prices which is affecting efforts to feed millions in West Africa, where hunger levels have reached a 10-year high, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Thursday. Operational costs for 2022 are set to rise by $136 million in the region alone, the agency said, just as acute hunger has quadrupled over the past three years, with 43 million people expected to face acute food insecurity by June. WFP said this additional cost...

A UN human rights expert on Wednesday called for a full and independent investigation into alleged mass crimes committed in central Mali’s Mopti region late last month, and pleaded with all parties to ensure the “absolute protection” of civilians and an end to the current vicious cycle of violence. Alioune Tine, the Independent Expert on the human rights situation in Mali, expressed alarm about unconfirmed reports that members of the Malian armed forces, accompanied by Russian private...

The first trial of a person accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region, has got underway at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as “Ali Kushayb”) appeared in Trial Chamber I of the ICC on Tuesday, with Judge Joanna Korner presiding, alongside Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou and Judge Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor. The suspected former leader of the pro-Government Janjaweed militia is accused of 31 counts...

The UN and partners on Thursday launched a $1.7 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan, to meet the needs of some 6.8 million vulnerable people this year. The funding will be used to provide urgent life-saving assistance and protection in a country where it is estimated more than two thirds of the population, nearly nine million people, require aid relief. “The cumulative and compounding effects of years of climate-related shocks such as flooding and drought, conflict...