humanitarian assistance - The African Mirror

Aug

29

2024

UNHCR concerned about impact of Mpox on refugees, displaced

NEWS

Without additional, urgent support, the recently declared mpox outbreak could become devastating for refugees and displaced communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other impacted countries in Africa, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns today. In DRC’s South Kivu Province, one of the regions hardest hit by mpox, at least 42 suspected cases have been identified amongst the refugee population. Confirmed and suspected cases have also been recorded among the refugee populations in the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are over 18,000 suspected cases and 615 deaths to…

Jul

27

2024

By DELPHIN R. NTANYOMA

DRC ceasefire for humanitarian aid is a small step forward – what must happen next for peace

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE United States has negotiated a truce so humanitarian assistance can be given to more than seven million people, including children, caught in the grip of the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The initial cessation of hostilities was for two weeks. It was extended by a further two weeks. Armed conflicts and other forms of violence have triggered wave after wave of internal refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More recently, fighting between government troops and the M23 rebels has trapped millions in and around Goma, the main eastern city.…

Mar

29

2024

By The African Mirror

Ireland to intervene in South Africa genocide case against Israel

NEWS

IRELAND said it would intervene in South Africa's genocide case against Israel, in the strongest signal to date of Dublin's concern about Israeli operations in Gaza since October 7. Announcing the move, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said that while it was for the World Court to decide whether genocide is being committed, he wanted to be clear that Hamas' October 7 attack and what is happening in Gaza now "represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale." "The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The…

Mar

07

2024

By DAVID MILIBAND, INGER ASHING, JAN EGELAND, CHARLOTTE SLENTE, MICHELLE NUNN and STEPHEN OMOLLO

Sudan’s collapse is a test for the international community. We are failing it.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN the deafening silence of global indifference, the war in Sudan recently entered its 10-month mark. Since April 2023, close to 8 million people have fled their homes, of whom more than 1.6 million have sought refuge in Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic – countries already grappling with immense difficulties. Close to 25 million people need humanitarian assistance, including around 5 million people on the brink of famine and nearly 7 million severely undernourished children. Mass graves conceal evidence of widespread, systematic, and targeted mass atrocities that could be repeated at any moment as the…

Mar

07

2024

By KATIE TOTH

After two years in Poland, Ukrainian refugees ask when – and if – they will go home

WORLD

NEARLY one million Ukrainian refugees live in Poland, 41% of them school-age children. Two years after Russia launched its attempted full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they are facing destabilising and pressing questions: How much of a new life should they build; and when – if ever – will they be able to return home? The war has settled into a grinding stalemate in eastern and southern Ukraine, punctuated by periodic Russian missile barrages throughout the country. Out of a population of around 37 million, some 14.6 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance and 3.7 million are internally displaced. Another 6.5 million Ukrainian refugees have been…

Oct

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Hamas-Israeli conflict: what’s at stake for Egypt

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AS the Israeli-Hamas crisis continues, a great deal of focus is shifting to Egypt. Egypt shares a border with both Israel and Gaza – the narrow strip of Palestinian territory which is currently under blockade following the violent attack against Israel by Hamas, a radical Islamist organisation that has controlled Gaza since 2007. OFIR WINTER, Senior Researcher, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Ofir Winter, who studies Egyptian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to provide insights into what the new war means for Egypt and the role it plays. What’s been…

Oct

19

2023

By STEVE HOLLAND

Biden offers Israelis support, Palestinians aid in Tel Aviv

WORLD

U.S. President Joe Biden said that a deadly blast at a Gaza Strip hospital appeared to be from "an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group," and he pledged support to Israelis and humanitarian assistance to suffering Palestinians. Biden travelled to Tel Aviv on a rapid visit to offer staunch U.S. support in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israeli villages and military bases by Gaza-based Palestinian Hamas gunmen who killed 1,400 people and took about 200 hostages. His trip was upended by a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital on Tuesday evening. Palestinian officials blamed it on an Israeli…

Apr

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Somalis suffering from climate crisis they did nothing to create, U.N. chief says

NEWS

SOMALIA is suffering from the impact of a climate crisis it has done almost nothing to create, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, as a full-blown famine threatens to follow a drought that killed 43,000 people last year. Some 8.3 million Somalis, almost half the population, require urgent humanitarian assistance, Guterres said, adding that only 15% of the country's $2.6 billion aid requirement for this year has been met. "When famine looms, this is totally unacceptable," Guterres told reporters in Mogadishu. He was speaking after visiting a camp in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, for people displaced by the drought…

Sep

25

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. to provide $108 million aid to South Sudan

NEWS

THE United States would provide more than $720 million in humanitarian assistance for the response to the crisis in Syria and nearly $108 million for South Sudan. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun made the announcement on Syria at an event on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He said the money would go "both for Syrians inside the country and for those in desperate need across the region." At the same event, Acting USAID Administrator John Barsa announced nearly $108 million for the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan. Biegun said the additional funds for Syria…

Sep

18

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. paves way for more sanctions over Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict

NEWS

DAPHNE PSALEDAKIS THE United States on Friday paved the way for further sanctions to be imposed on parties to the conflict in northern Ethiopia, where thousands have been killed and millions are in need of humanitarian assistance. A new executive order allows Washington to take punitive action against those in the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Amhara regional government if they continue to pursue military conflict over negotiations, senior U.S. administration officials said. The move, which increases pressure on the parties to come to the negotiating table and bring an end to the…