catastrophe - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

To avert catastrophe in Sudan, the international community must immediately avail resources for life-saving humanitarian aid – Mbeki

ON April 15, 2024, a critically important ‘International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its Neighbours’ started in Paris, convened by France, Germany and the European Union.It is of the greatest importance that this very timely conference must succeed in its efforts urgently to generate the humanitarian resources needed, particularly in Sudan.A year ago, armed conflict erupted in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.Since then, I have informally engaged Sudanese and other stakeholders, including humanitarian actors, on how best to address the crisis that now imperils the future of Sudan and threatens the stability of the…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

UN gets $2.4 bln in pledges for Horn of Africa aid efforts

NEWS

THE United Nations received pledges of $2.4 billion to help fund aid operations for some 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, but the donations fall short of what the U.N. was seeking as it warned against a possible "catastrophe." The U.N. has appealed for more than $7 billion for the three countries, but prior to Wednesday's pledging conference Somalia was just 25% funded, Ethiopia 22% and Kenya just 21%. The United Nations describes the Horn of Africa as the epicentre of one of the world's worst climate emergencies. "People in the Horn of Africa are paying an unconscionable price for…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Cardinal Pell lies in state, funeral plans overshadowed by memo revelation

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA AUSTRALIAN Cardinal George Pell was lying in state, with funeral preparations overshadowed by revelations that he was the author of an anonymous memo that branded Pope Francis' pontificate a catastrophe. Pell's closed dark brown wooden coffin was placed on the floor of the small church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians, inside the Vatican walls just metres (yards) away from the Santa Marta residence where Francis lives. Early on Friday, a reporter saw about 20 people kneeling in prayer in the church when it opened for 10 hours of lying in state. Pell, 81, who spent more than…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Catastrophe looms in Ethiopia – UN

NEWS

A de facto blockade on aid to the Tigray region in Ethiopia's north is bringing millions of people to the brink of famine, the United Nations humanitarian agency has said, warning of "looming catastrophe". The U.N. agency OCHA called on all parties in a 10-month-old war in Tigray to allow the movement of aid into the region where it said 5.2 million people, or 90% of the population, urgently need humanitarian assistance. Those include 400,000 people who are already facing famine conditions, it said. War broke out in November between Ethiopia's federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People's…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

German archbishop offers to resign over Church’s sexual abuse ‘catastrophe’

RELIGION

THOMAS ESCRITT and PHILIP PULLELLA ONE of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, Germany's Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the "catastrophe" of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the pope sent two senior foreign bishops to investigate the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany's largest, over its handling of abuse cases. "I have to share responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse by officials of the Church over…