http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbThu, 19 Nov 2009 14:14:03 GMTHARGEISA Thursday, November 19, 2009 (IRIN) - Aden Muhumed Hassan, 46, a divorced father of one, lost his hands 11 years ago after he accidentally picked up unexploded ordnance [UXO] planted during fighting between the Somali National Movement (SNM) and former President Siad Barre's army in Somaliland's liberation struggle between 1981 and 1991, and during the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia in the late 1970s. HARGEISA Thursday, November 19, 2009 (IRIN) - Aden Muhumed Hassan, 46, a divorced father of one, lost his hands 11 years ago after he accidentally picked up unexploded ordnance [UXO] planted during fighting between the Somali National Movement (SNM) and former President Siad Barre's army in Somaliland's liberation struggle between 1981 and 1991, and during the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia in the late 1970s.

Ethiopian by origin, Hassan has lived in the self-declared republic of Somaliland since 1977. He told IRIN of his experience.

"It was about 10 in the morning [in 1988] when I was herding my cows in the Bali-Abane area [Somaliland]. When I tried to remove a piece of stick close to the place where I was watering the animals, I suddenly felt something explode; my hands were gone and I fell to the ground in shock.

"A few minutes later, I got up and walked back to the watering point where there were some people who knew me. They had nothing to stop the bleeding, so I asked them to get the leaves of the local Karir plant to control it.

"I was then loaded on to a camel and taken to Masajidka [where the SNM used to take its injured].

"Despite having no hands I was with the SNM veterans during the Somaliland liberation struggle. The war ended after the ouster of [former President] Barre [in 1991] and the capture of the northwestern regions of Somalia by the SNM. [Later the self-declared republic of Somaliland was declared.]

"I was then registered as an SNM war disabled veteran and stationed at the disabled centre in Hargeisa. The newly established government used to feed us there.

"But when the SNM term [in office] ended, we were told to go look for a livelihood. The government provided some money for those who had the worst injuries.

"I came to the city and my first job was collecting money at a company’s lavatory. I then started my own business selling charcoal in Daruraha [a settlement in the Ga’an libah District of Hargeisa] with some 200,000 Somaliland shillings [about US$32] I had saved.

"When you cannot use your hands, it is difficult eating or getting dressed. Before, when someone would give me some clothes, I did not like it because I believed I could not wear them; but later, I adapted.

"I can now wear my clothes; I can also use a spoon when eating. I am [even] better at collecting charcoal than my friends who have hands.

"Before I wanted to die but now I am able to work and I am surviving. I earn about 15,000-20,000 Somaliland shillings daily ($2.41 to $3.22).

"[Allah] has ordered us to work and promised that he will provide for our livelihood. It is for this reason that Alhamdullilah [thank God], he provides for me and my child."

maj/aw/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87116KABUL Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - Over two million Afghans have been killed or wounded in armed conflicts and violence over the past three decades but the desire for peace and stability has always been strong, nine NGOs say in a report published today.KABUL Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - Over two million Afghans have been killed or wounded in armed conflicts and violence over the past three decades but the desire for peace and stability has always been strong, nine NGOs say in a report published today.

“A whole generation has grown up never having experienced peace and many Afghans are struggling to cope with the psychological, economic, social and physical ramifications of the conflict, past and present,” says the report entitled The Cost of War, Afghan Experiences of Conflict, 1978-2009.

The report documents personal experiences of past wars and common perceptions about the ongoing conflict in the country. It is based on over 700 interviews with people in 14 of the 34 provinces.

“The primary goal of the research was to look at the experiences of ordinary Afghans over the past 30 years, understand their perceptions of the current conflict and what they think should be done to alleviate the violence,” Ashley Jackson, head of policy and advocacy with Oxfam International in Afghanistan and author of the report, told IRIN.

“Three decades of war created a lot of problems for us. We migrated to Pakistan, our houses were destroyed, our land and property were grabbed by warlords, the economy was badly affected, our sons and daughters were deprived of education, our women were insulted… Schools, hospitals, roads and factories were destroyed and fear of war has caused many mental problems,” said one respondent from Kunar Province.

One in five individuals reported being tortured; just one percent of individuals reported receiving any compensation or apology for the harm done to them, and 70 percent of individuals saw unemployment and poverty as a major cause of the conflict, the report said.

“The report basically tells [of] the very high cost of war and the precious value of peace,” Aziz Rafiee, director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF) and one of the nine NGOs, told IRIN.

What kind of war?

Over the past few years armed violence has intensified with civilian casualties mounting, according to UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) statistics.

The growing resurgence of the Taliban has dashed hopes for an end to the fighting and there is little hope for immediate peace, experts said.

“This is a civil war,” said Mohammad Ali Wosoqi from the NGO Cooperation Centre for Afghanistan (CCA). “The government has been fighting internal militant groups.”

Rafiee of the ACSF, however, said the current conflict was “a regional war” between extremist forces and governments.

"This is a war against transnational terrorism," he said.

Whatever the nature of the ongoing conflict, it has adversely affected most Afghans, said Jackson.

Weak judiciary

The impunity of alleged war criminals and a weak judiciary are key reasons for the continued fighting, say experts.

Backed by the UN and other international actors in 2005, the Afghan government agreed to implement a transitional justice action plan within three years. The plan was designed to address past crimes through proper documentation, national reconciliation and judicial rulings where necessary.

However, four years on, nothing much has happened, with alleged criminals still powerful, according to NGOs and human rights groups.

"There is widespread impunity for war-related abuses and efforts to establish accountability have been largely abandoned, with surprisingly little focus on transitional justice and reconciliation. And yet, unless the Afghan people are given an opportunity to come to terms with their past, there is little prospect for sustainable peace," says the report.

Research for the report was jointly designed and/or carried out by the following organizations: ACSF, CCA, Afghan Peace and Democracy Act (APDA), Association for the Defence of Women’s Rights (ADWR), Education Training Center for Poor Women and Girls of Afghanistan (ECW), Oxfam GB, Organization for Human Welfare (OHW), Sanayee Development Organization (SDO), and The Liaison Office (TLO).

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87095NAIROBI Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - Escalating violence in the Somali town of Galkayo, Mudug region, is creating a climate of fear, which in turn has adversely affected livelihoods, residents say.NAIROBI Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - Escalating violence in the Somali town of Galkayo, Mudug region, is creating a climate of fear, which in turn has adversely affected livelihoods, residents say.

Cases of killings and explosions have increased in the past six weeks, with the business community attributing the trend to the demolition of a market and subsequent displacement and desperation of dozens of small-scale traders.

"The current climate of insecurity is affecting all aspects of our lives, including the ability to make a living," Fuad Abshir, a businessman in Galkayo, told IRIN.

Abshir said the town's authorities had been promising to do something about the deteriorating security situation but nothing had changed.

Abdiqani Hassan, another businessman, said he was now closing his shop much earlier than he used to due to insecurity. "I close three to four hours earlier than I did before, which impacts on how much business I do."

Hassan said security forces had exacerbated the situation by firing indiscriminately whenever explosions or gunshots were heard.

Abshir blamed the insecurity, in part, on the demolition of a market for small traders on 29 October by the authorities. "They demolished a market of hundreds of small traders without providing an alternative."

He said he suspected that many of the displaced traders were on the streets and "will do anything to survive". He urged the authorities to address the problems of the traders "as a priority, before things go from bad to worse".

In addition, the police had been lax in addressing the insecurity, he claimed.

Abshir said businesses paid taxes "and those taxes should be used to provide services such as security to the people".

Maryan Hashi, a mother of seven, was a small trader in the Suqa Bankiga market, demolished for security and health reasons. "I was not rich but I had a decent life and never asked for help from anyone to feed my children. Now I have nothing," she told IRIN.

She said the market supported hundreds of families who are now destitute and urged the authorities to address the issue.

Khalif Abdi Dala, an official at the Centre for Peace and Development in Galkayo, said the demolition had hit low-income families hardest.

"This was a place where low-income people eked out a living," Dala said. "It is a problem and the government needs to address it."

However, he said, "there is no serious security problem at the moment and what there is, is being addressed".

Ahmed Ali Salad, the governor of Mudug region, said “although Galkayo has had some problems, we are dealing with it.

"Galkayo is better placed than most in Somalia and our security situation is under control," he said. The security forces were redoubling their efforts.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87098HARADH Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Nasser Ridhwan, 78, is a recent arrival in the al-Mazraq camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haradh District, Hajjah Governorate, some 130km southwest of his home village of Mashnaq, near Dukhan Mountain, which has become a battleground in fighting between the Saudi army and Houthi-led Shia rebels.HARADH Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Nasser Ridhwan, 78, is a recent arrival in the al-Mazraq Camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haradh District, Hajjah Governorate, some 130km southwest of his home village of Mashnaq, near Dukhan Mountain, which has become a battleground in fighting between the Saudi army and Houthi-led Shia rebels.

Ridwhan, who for the past 30 years has worked as a day labourer in the Saudi town of Jaizan, 20km away from his home, has lost contact with his 80-year-old wife since 12 September, when fighting between the Yemeni army and Houthis cut off access to his home. From al-Mazraq camp, Ridhwan told IRIN his story:

"On 13 September, I left home early in the morning for work in Jaizan hoping to come back before sunset, as usual, but couldn't after heavy fighting cut access to our home where my old wife was waiting for me.

"I then took shelter with many other displaced Yemenis who had fled their villages for uninhabited homes in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. I kept going to work in the Saudi town where I used to carry goods on my back from trucks to stores, making about 20-30 Saudi riyals [US$5-10] a day.

"I was waiting for the security situation to improve in order to get back to my wife with the 820 riyals [$220] that I saved over the past 50 days, but it didn’t happen. Saudi policemen forced me and the other displaced families out of the homes we were in at 6am on 6 November, saying that Houthi gunmen were using us as human shields in their clashes with Saudi border guards.

"I then began a five-day trip on foot with these families, taking shelter under trees overnight and begging any villagers we passed for food and water until we reached al-Mazrak camp on 11 November. The situation made it impossible for me to think about returning home and seeing my wife.

"I don't know where she is now; missing, dead, gone with other people. She was alone when I left her. We had been married for more than 65 years, but had no children - this was our destiny.

"I had nothing in life but my wife, who I’ve now lost. I don't know how she will survive because it is the first time in 50 years for me to disappear from her.

"I don't know when the security situation will improve so that I can get back home and see what happened to her. My hope that she is still alive is vanishing."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87070KARACHI Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - As temperatures get closer to freezing in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency near the border with Afghanistan, some people affected by fighting between government troops and militants have begun to move further from the conflict zone.KARACHI Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - As temperatures get closer to freezing in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency near the border with Afghanistan, some people affected by fighting between government troops and militants have begun to move further from the conflict zone.

Some 30-35 families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from South Waziristan had recently arrived in Majeed Colony in the port city Karachi where many people originally from North West Frontier Province (NWFP) live, said local residents. Most had moved in with relatives or rented accommodation.

Most IDPs are staying with host families in NWFP's adjacent Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts and, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 350,000 have now been registered in those areas. Anticipating that they will not be able to return until winter is over, some are heading to larger cities.

"There are people going to Bannu and Zhob [in the southwestern province of Balochistan], but as the UN is not on the ground - only our implementing partners - we don't have any more info," Billi Bierling, a public information officer with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN from Islamabad.

The UN earlier this month requested safe access for IDPs from South Waziristan. The authorities have denied this to international humanitarian agencies citing security concerns in the area. However, through its implementing partners UNHCR started the distribution of some 35,000 tents [http://www.unhcr.org/4af845be9.html] to IDPs in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts last week.

Meanwhile, those in big cities are trying to fend for themselves. "We need to find work to support ourselves. Karachi is a large city and perhaps we can earn a livelihood here till it is safe to go back to our homes," Alam Khan Mehsud, 30, an IDP from South Waziristan, told IRIN. He is currently looking for work as a labourer, after which he hopes to enrol his two sons, aged nine and seven, at school.

His cousin, Farooq Khan Mehsud, who travelled to Karachi with Alam Khan, said: "Rented rooms may also be cheaper here than in Dera Ismail Khan. The cost of accommodation has soared there, and we were paying nearly Rs 2,000 [US$24] a week for a two-room flat."

The journey took the families over a week. While a bus trip from Dera Ismail Khan to Karachi, a distance of over 1,000km, would normally take 24 hours by road, Farooq Khan said: "We had 22 people in our group, and the fare was expensive - so in some places we walked and ate whatever we could find, either anything growing by the roadside or in cheap cafes."

Tribe matters

Alam Khan explained another reason for the decision to move on: "Our tribe is Mehsud. Members of rival tribes have also moved there [Dera Ismail Khan] and we wanted to avoid any clash."

Some IDPs have moved to other cities. "I have two families now living with my chauffeur, who is from South Waziristan. I have allowed them to place beds in the courtyard of my house because these people have nowhere else to go," said Rehan Ahmed, a businessman based in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province.

Some of the IDPs, including Shahzeb Wazir, 40, now in Rawalpindi with his family, said: "Work for us is not hard to find. Due to the terrorist threat many people are hiring security guards, and because many of us can use guns we can earn a living this way until we are able to go home."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87079ISIOLO Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Hundreds of people have fled their homes in Isiolo, eastern Kenya, following an attack by armed men that left 11 people dead in Kisima locality, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said.ISIOLO Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Hundreds of people have fled their homes in Isiolo, eastern Kenya, following an attack by armed men that left 11 people dead in Kisima locality, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said.

"More than 100 Turkana [families] have left their homes since [15 November]," Gitonga Mugambi, the KRCS coordinator in Isiolo, said. "They are moving to the Ngaremara area [about 30km from Isiolo town], which they believe is safe."

Affected communities include the Turkana, who are said to have been behind the attack, the Somali, Borana and Samburu communities. One of those affected, Peter Kalapata, said: "Our women are unable to go to Isiolo town to sell charcoal or buy food; the sick cannot go to the hospital. Things are bad; we need security for all the communities."

The Kisima attack, which occurred about 5km from Isiolo town, also left six people injured, with hundreds of heads of livestock, which were later recovered, stolen, according to the Isiolo divisional police commander, Sammy Kosgey. Tension in Isiolo is still high and has affected learning, Kenya National Union of Teachers Isiolo Secretary, Mohamud Halake, told IRIN on 16 November.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87082JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Fearing a resurgence of xenophobic attacks, around 2,500 Zimbabwean migrants have taken refuge in government buildings in De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, after some of their shacks in an informal settlement were attacked and demolished, said a police official. JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Fearing a resurgence of xenophobic attacks, around 2,500 Zimbabwean migrants have taken refuge in government buildings in De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, after some of their shacks in an informal settlement were attacked and demolished, said a police official.

The attacks took place early in the morning of 17 November in Stofland, meaning dustland in Afrikaans, the largest squatter camp in De Doorns. All the displaced Zimbabweans are documented.

The local police station commander, Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen, told IRIN the local residents were unhappy that farm owners had been employing Zimbabweans for "less money", and had complained that farmers were "excluding the local community".

The global economic recession has hit South Africa hard; the government's latest labour force survey said 484,000 jobs had been lost in the last six months, and unemployment stood at 24.5 percent for the period July to September 2009, up from 23.2 percent during the same period in 2008.

Van der Westhuizen told IRIN that the situation had been tense since 13 November, when Zimbabweans had been involved in a violent spat in an informal tavern. "Following that incident, some 68 Zimbabweans" had fled the area, fearing a resurgence of xenophobic violence.

In May 2008 a tide of xenophobic violence erupted in Johannesburg and quickly spread through most parts of the country, killing more than 60 people and displacing about 100,000 others.

"The same area was affected in 2008," van der Westhuizen said. The 68 Zimbabweans took refuge in government buildings in De Doorns during Saturday and Sunday.

The police, accompanied by local government and disaster management officials, held a meeting with the informal settlement residents on the evening of 16 November to calm the situation. "But the residents threatened to prevent the Zimbabweans from going to work on 17 November [Monday morning]," van der Westhuizen told IRIN.

Police had to fire rubber bullets to disperse the residents, who attacked some more shacks in Stofland, forcing the Zimbabweans to flee. "Fortunately, none of the Zimbabweans were harmed and they all moved out with their personal belongings voluntarily," the police superintendent said.

The local authorities are trying to erect a tent shelter and provide portable toilets for the displaced people on the town's sports ground. Van der Westhuizen told IRIN: "We are making interim arrangements to keep them here for a week until we try and mediate with the local residents to get the Zimbabweans integrated back into the community."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87090DAKAR Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - The recent upheaval in Guinea has delayed the disposal of toxic chemicals discovered earlier this year at several sites throughout the capital Conakry, according to UN experts.DAKAR Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - The recent upheaval in Guinea has thrown into question the status of toxic chemicals discovered earlier this year at several sites throughout the capital Conakry, according to UN experts.

The products, which can be used to make or refine narcotics, were found in buildings near people’s homes; they are inflammable and pose a public health threat. Instability following a military crackdown on demonstrators has blocked UN drug and crime experts from visiting the sites since August.

“Beyond the fact that these are products that can be used for making narcotics, they are substances that have a very high toxicity level for the population,” Alexandre Schmidt, West Africa head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told journalists in the Senegalese capital Dakar on 16 November. “So there is a public health problem there. These products pollute; they are inflammable; they could explode.”

UNODC in mid-October submitted to Guinea’s military government a proposed plan for destroying the substances and is awaiting a response, according to UNODC officials. The junta had asked the international community for assistance in disposing of the chemicals, saying it did not have the means.

UNODC and Interpol made a joint evaluation mission late August but recent unrest in Guinea forced the UN to suspend follow-up missions; officials do not know what has become of the substances, which include precursors for controlled drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA) as well as solvents commonly used in the processing of cocaine and heroin.

“Up to end of August we knew the quantities, specifications and location of these products,” Schmidt said. He said given the lack of access officials do not know whether the chemicals are still contained at the sites or are being used to make drugs.

On-site

UNODC deputy regional representative Cyriaque Sobtafo told IRIN given the complexity of moving the substances, the agency’s plan calls for disposing of or destroying them in Guinea. He said environmental experts would take part in order to ensure no harm to health and the environment.

In its August evaluation UNODC and Interpol found eight sites storing chemicals – seven with the capacity to make or refine narcotics, one equipped to make fake antibiotics.

“What is worrying is that there is the capacity to produce synthetic drugs – ecstasy,” UNODC's Schmidt said. He said that if the products found in Conakry were made into ecstasy the market value would be 125 million euros (US$186 million).

Officials with the military government were unavailable to comment on the status of the chemicals or an eventual response to UNODC’s proposed plan.

UNODC’s Schmidt said if the government responds favourably the agency would likely get from the UN an “exceptional authorization” for the mission as it would be a “humanitarian intervention”.

np/ajhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87091POCHALLA Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - An increasing number of people in Southern Sudan cannot find enough to eat or adequate pasture and water for their livestock, raising fears of conflict between communities over grazing lands, local leaders warned.POCHALLA Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - An increasing number of people in Southern Sudan cannot find enough to eat or adequate pasture and water for their livestock, raising fears of conflict between communities over grazing lands, local leaders warned.

"Where there was peace, there was no rain and then where there were good rains, there was insecurity," Kuol Manyang, governor of Jonglei State, said.

His counterpart from Upper Nile State, Gutlauk Deng Garang, warned that hunger would force pastoralist cattle herders to move their animals, sharply increasing the likelihood of clashes with rival ethnic groups.

"We expect the cattle herders to start moving soon, and then it is expected [that there will] be conflict between the Lou and the Jikany Nuer," Garang told IRIN recently. Conflict between the Shilluk and Dinka communities had added to food insecurity, he said.

More than 2,000 people have died and about 350,000 have been displaced by violence across Southern Sudan since January, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The World Food Programme (WFP), which began airdropping food in the area on 4 November, estimates that 1.2 million people are already facing serious food insecurity in Southern Sudan.

"Air drops are a last resort to get food into these inaccessible places during this time of hunger," Michelle Iseminger, head of WFP in Southern Sudan, told reporters at Pochalla, a remote settlement on Sudan’s border with Ethiopia.

Wider problem

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the food insecurity in the region is part of the wider threat facing eastern Africa and the Horn, where prolonged drought and mounting conflict have left an estimated 20 million people needing food aid.

The warning came at a tense time for Southern Sudan, which is struggling to recover from a 22-year civil war that ended less than five years ago. Elections are due in April, followed by a referendum on the south's potential full independence in 2011.

"If we are not able to handle the situation well... repairing adequate supplies... we can expect very, very significant levels [of hunger] which can border on the red flag emergency, which becomes a famine," Hilde Johnson, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) deputy executive director, said during an 8 November visit to Jonglei's capital, Bor.

"When natural resources are being diminished on a daily basis, you will see hard pressure coming in on already meagre resources," Johnson added. "This will exacerbate conflict, there is absolutely no doubt."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87057CONAKRY Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - The Diallo family in the Guinean capital, Conakry, has found no trace of Thierno Abdoulaye Diallo, 20, a student, since he set off on 28 September for a football stadium in the city.CONAKRY Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - The Diallo family in the Guinean capital, Conakry, has found no trace of Thierno Abdoulaye Diallo, 20, a student, since he set off on 28 September for a football stadium in the city.

Civil society representatives, political leaders and citizens were gathered at the stadium, waving the national flag, praying on the pitch and chanting, calling on military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara not to run for the presidency, when soldiers gunned down and raped demonstrators.

Diallo's father and other relatives have come from their village in Dalaba, about 360km from Conakry, to search for him. They have been to military camps, hospitals and morgues in the city, but have found no record or other sign of him.

The Red Cross continues to receive calls from families seeking relatives missing since 28 September, according to the UN in Guinea.

Children in the Diallo household wonder where their big brother is. An aunt showed IRIN the closed door of the young man's now-unused room in the extended family home in Conakry and kept referring to him in past tense.

"He was a gentle, respectful young man and he was always kind with the children – the children in the house ask where he is.

"All we know is that he was with a friend at the stadium that day – not a trace since then.

"On 1 October, the day before the authorities were going to bring bodies out of the morgue for identification, his older brother had to call their mother, who is still in the village. He told her Abdoulaye was at the stadium and we have not heard from him since.

"We are in despair but we continue to search. We have a bit of hope, since we do not have proof that he is dead.

"The situation in Guinea is extremely difficult today – there is no security.

"We go through our days in the household living in worry. I really don't have the words to express what we're going through."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87059DAKAR Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Health officials have confirmed three cases of yellow fever in Côte d’Ivoire’s northwest Denguélé region, of 10 suspected cases. DAKAR Monday, November 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Health officials have confirmed three cases of yellow fever in Côte d’Ivoire’s northwest Denguélé region.

"We have 10 suspected cases, with three confirmed," Siméon N’da, Health Ministry head of communications, told IRIN on 16 November. Health workers vaccinated people in and around affected villages at the weekend, according to N'da. He did not specify how many people were vaccinated and in what localities.

N'da said there had been no deaths from the mosquito-borne viral infection. Local taxi drivers told IRIN they transported the bodies of four teenagers from the village of Tron Touba to the region’s main city Odienné during the week of 9 November. Villagers said they had died of an unknown illness.

Local health officials in Odienné would not comment.

Some 30,000 people worldwide die of yellow fever each year, of about 200,000 cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). No cure exists and 50 percent of infected people who cannot access treatment will die, according to WHO, which says vaccination is “the single most important preventive measure”.

np/ajhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87068BAGHDAD Sunday, November 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Iraq’s minority communities in the northern province of Nineveh have appealed to local and national authorities for protection amid warnings of an increase in attacks against them in the run-up to January’s national elections.BAGHDAD Sunday, November 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Iraq’s minority communities in the northern province of Nineveh have appealed to local and national authorities for protection amid warnings of an increase in attacks against them in the run-up to January’s national elections.

“As Christians we have been feeling insecure since the 2003 [US-led] invasion as we are subjected to killings, kidnappings, extortion and displacement by different parties due to either political agendas or extremist ideologies,” said Ihsan Matti, a 33-year-old taxi driver in Mosul, provincial capital of Nineveh.

Matti said Iraq’s security forces were slow to respond to any anti-Christian attacks and left their communities vulnerable to more violence. “The government still doesn’t deal with the threats we face seriously. We are still facing the same threats without any sustainable measures [to counter them].”

Since 2003, minority communities have been repeatedly attacked by militants, the majority of whom were affiliated to al-Qaida in Iraq, by their own admission. The militants accuse minorities of being crusaders, devil-worshipers, infidels or traitors for co-operating with US forces.

The main groups of minorities targeted in Nineveh Province are the Shabaks, whose numbers are estimated at 300,000-400,000 and have a religion containing elements of Islam, Christianity and other religions; the Yazidi community, which worships Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel; and Christians, which are made up of Chaldeans, Orthodox, Catholics, Assyrians, Anglicans and Armenians.

The deadliest attack on a minority group was in August 2007 when four truck bombs detonated simultaneously in the small village of Qahataniya, killing more than 300 Yazidis. Some five months before that, truck bombs hit markets in the northwestern city of Tal Afar, killing at least 152 Turkomen people.

In October 2008, a new wave of anti-Christian violence erupted in Mosul when gunmen started attacking Christians and threatening others, forcing them to leave the city either to displacement camps or outside the country.

Government measures

Abdul-Raheem al-Shimari, head of the provincial Security and Defence Committee, warned that such attacks were likely to increase in the province in the run-up to January’s national elections, as minority communities had a significant stake in them.

“I do believe that there will be some security disturbances not only for the minority communities but for the whole province as we approach the elections,” al-Shimari told IRIN. “All parties, especially those with influential militias, will have a role in destabilizing the security situation to embarrass the other.”

He added that plans were underway to recruit 14,000 new police officers and soldiers from the province. The new recruits are to be spread around Nineveh but with a greater concentration in the areas where minorities live.

“This will help the residents of these areas to protect their communities,” al-Shimari said, adding that 50cm-wide trenches were being dug around the Christian towns of Tilkaif and Hamdaniya to prevent car bombs getting in.

Ridha Jawad, 54, of the Shabak community complained of the government’s “lax measures”, which he said encouraged militants to increase their brazen attacks.

“If there were tough measures from the government against those who attack us, such as arrests and executions, we would never see such an increase in these attacks,” Jawad said. “We want quick and effective measures.”

“On vulnerable ground”

On 10 November, New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) shed light on another source of repression for these minority communities in Nineveh; the longstanding territorial dispute between the central government and the Kurdish regional government.

It its 51-page report titled "On vulnerable ground", HRW said minorities in the disputed northern areas are caught between the semi-autonomous regional authorities of Kurdistan and the central government in Baghdad. It said the ongoing dispute threatens to create a "human rights catastrophe" for these communities.

"The competing efforts to resolve deep disputes over the future of northern Iraq have left the minority communities who live there in a precarious position, bearing the brunt of conflict and coming under intense pressure to declare their loyalty to one side or the other, or face consequences," the report said.

"They have been victimized by Kurdish authorities' heavy handed tactics, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, and intimidation directed at anyone resistant to Kurdish expansionist plans," it added.

The rights watchdog called upon the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government to protect minorities and to create an independent inquiry body to determine those responsible for the orchestrated killings of minorities.

Yazidi community member Hamoo Khalil, 44, said that if the government did not do more to protect them from attacks they would be forced to take matters into their own hands.

“If the situation continues like this we’ll find ourselves taking up our own arms to defend our families,” said Khalil, a father of six who runs a small supermarket in Baashiqa town, about 15km north of Mosul. “I’m afraid that we’ve reached the point where we have no trust in the government’s forces.”

sm/edhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87044DAKAR Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Six weeks after the deadly military crackdown on civilians in Guinea, families are still searching for loved ones, the wounded continue to need medical care and aid agencies are assisting state health workers cope with the aftermath, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Guinea.DAKAR Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Six weeks after the deadly military crackdown on civilians in Guinea, families are still searching for loved ones, the wounded continue to need medical care and aid agencies are assisting state health workers cope with the aftermath, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Guinea.

The UN on 9 November approved $416,056 from its Central Emergency Response Fund for a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) project to restore medical supplies, stock public hospitals, help treat people wounded in the 28 September violence and address nutritional and water and sanitation needs.

Following the December coup d'état many donors reduced or suspended development assistance, including some for the health sector. Philippe Verstraeten, head of OCHA-Guinea, told IRIN: “It is critical that the UN and aid agencies continue to help Guinea deal with the fallout of 28 September as well as stave off further humanitarian crises, as the situation remains volatile.”

The latest (2-9 November) OCHA bulletin says:

-The Red Cross continues to receive calls from families seeking relatives. “For the moment, access to Camp Alpha Yaya [Diallo / the main military camp and the junta’s headquarters] and to the detention centre at Kassa Island has not been permitted.”

-Hospitals have reported cases of secondary infections in some victims who had hesitated to seek medical care after 28 September for fear of reprisals by the army

-Protection experts say at least 225 victims of the 28 September violence remain seriously traumatized, 45 of whom victims of sexual violence

-Among the remaining protection needs are identification of rape victims, referrals and medical and psycho-social care

-The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Health Ministry, on 2-6 November held seminars to reinforce local capacity for treating sexual violence victims; the workshops included training in using rape kits

np/oahttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87017KAUDA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - The Nuba Mountains, a former frontline region in Sudan’s north-south civil war remain tense, years after the 2005 north-south peace agreement, local leaders and analysts say.KAUDA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - The Nuba Mountains, a former frontline region in Sudan’s north-south civil war remain tense, years after the 2005 north-south peace agreement, local leaders and analysts say.

Comprising some 48,000sqkm of green uplands and farmland, the area is part of northern Sudan’s Southern Kordofan State, but as during the war, remains politically dominated by the southern-led Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Tensions and mistrust have remained high between Sudan’s north and south - major political, ideological and religious differences are unresolved – not least in the Nuba region.

"Security is a big problem, with violations and hostility between two parties - the SPLM and the NCP [National Congress Party], and a lot of conflict between tribes," said Kamal al-Nur, commissioner of SPLM-controlled Heiban County in Southern Kordofan.

"We are concerned that violence will escalate as we come closer to the elections - and in the period after the elections - to the referendum," al-Nur added. General elections in Sudan are slated for April 2010, before a southern independence referendum in 2011.

During the war, the Nuba population suffered aerial bombardment, isolation, shortages, land expropriation and forced population movements, according to international human rights groups.

The area is characterized by a mix of ethnic groups and coexistence between Muslim, Christian and traditional believers.

"We fought for long years… for equality, for the right to live as we want and not under the [Islamic] Sharia law of the north," said Younan Albaround, the SPLM chairman in Kauda, the party’s former headquarters for Nuba during the war.

“Popular consultation”

Unlike Southern Sudan and the oil-rich region of Abyei which are due to vote on independence and self-determination in 2011, the 2005 peace deal only set out arrangements for interim power sharing and ”popular consultation” in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile are sometimes referred to as Sudan’s “three areas” – transitional and contested-zones straddling the north-south political, military and cultural fault lines.

"Whilst the South and Abyei have clearly defined rights to an independence referendum - guaranteed by the presence of the SPLA and thus with the option of unilateral secession should the peace deal fail to be fully implemented - the two `contested areas’ are only given the ill-defined concept of `popular consultation’ on their future status," said Peter Moszynski, a Sudan analyst who began working in the Nuba region in 1981.

The SPLA’s ranks in the Nuba mountains were largely filled by local people, but those forces have officially pulled out of the region under terms set down by the peace agreement, with only special joint north-south units remaining.

Tensions have also risen following recent comments by senior Southern Sudanese officials in favour of separation, including a speech by the Southern president, Salva Kiir, that voting for unity would make southerners "second class" citizens.

"The Nuba people fear the breakaway of the south because they will be left as an isolated minority in the north - and will also be on the frontline of any future north-south conflict," Moszynski said.

"There are huge concerns that the Nuba Mountains could return to fighting," said Sudan analyst, John Ashworth. "They have no referendums - but many ordinary people are not aware of that yet and will be angry when it finally dawns on them. The `popular consultation’ is vague and probably meaningless."

A public opinion study by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) found people saw few positive outcomes for the future.

"Participants report that there is persistent, and potentially explosive, conflict in Southern Kordofan," the March 2009 study entitled Losing Hope noted.

In ethnic terms, the people of the Nuba Mountains usually identify more closely with the “African” southerners than their northern Arab neighbours.

"They describe the conflict as a fight over land and grazing rights. The Nuba argue that Arabs are armed [while the Nuba are not], that Arab traditional leaders are not neutral, and that the central government is behind much of the violence," it added.

"Arab participants say that it is the Nuba who are the instigators, and that they are responsible for the violence and theft in the region."

Few, the study found, were optimistic for the future: "The scale of the current conflict in Southern Kordofan is such that many participants believe the state is close to a return to general, state-wide war."

Similar sentiments were echoed by the International Crisis Group (ICG) in October 2008, in a report on Southern Kordofan entitled The Next Darfur?

"If the NCP, SPLM and international community fail to pay the required attention to the divided region," the ICG warned, "their inaction could come back to haunt them in a way that threatens the stability of the already divided country."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86994KINSHASA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has urged its citizens who recently fled inter-ethnic clashes in the western DRC province of Equateur and sought refuge in the Republic of Congo, to return home, saying calm has been restored in their villages.KINSHASA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has urged its citizens who recently fled inter-ethnic clashes in the western DRC province of Equateur and sought refuge in the Republic of Congo, to return home, saying calm has been restored in their villages.

"People must be able to [return] because we have arrested more than 100 insurgents who were spreading terror and killing people in Dongo," government spokesman Lambert Mende said.

The government, he told IRIN, had stabilized the situation by deploying police in Dongo and surrounding villages where clashes between the Munzaya and Enyele ethnic groups recently left 47 people dead.

Seventy percent of the civilians who crossed the Ubangi river to enter ROC were women and children, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said. They fled clashes over farming and fishing rights in an area 300km north of Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur Province.

Their number has risen from an estimated 16,000 people, a week ago, to about 21,800, according to UHNCR and ROC government officials.

"The refugees have mostly stopped crossing the border amid reports that the DRC military had intervened in Dongo to stop attacks by armed Enyele, who appear to have organized into a militia," UNHCR said in a statement.

Despite this, UNHCR staff in ROC could still see smoke from burning houses across the river on 9 November.

Most of the refugees were Munzaya and sheltering in villages between the districts of Betou and Impfondo in northern ROC. They said Enyele men had gone from house to house in Dongo, pillaging, raping and killing civilians.

"The refugees... have expressed their wish not to be repatriated to the DRC for the moment, although their government said it had restored security," Francesca Fontanini, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said.

Clashes in Dongo started in March.

IDPs too

"We are talking of [about] 22,000 refugees in ROC today, but there are nearly 30,000 villagers who are internally displaced [IDPs] in other villages in the DRC," Fontanini told IRIN.

"Most live in public buildings which are like transit centres, where we have started the distribution of non-food items, tents and emergency medical care with the aid of a mobile clinic," she added.

More than 20 of the refugees arrived in ROC with gunshot wounds. Nine of the severely injured were taken by UNHCR to Impfondo hospital. These included an 11- year-old girl whose right leg was amputated.

Mende said the government was doing everything to ensure the resumption of smooth, profitable fishing activities in Dongo. Earlier, officials in Equateur had said dialogue between the communities had been initiated.

More than 200 houses were burned in the March attack on the Munzaya, forcing at least 1,200 people to flee across the Ubangi River into ROC.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87002KABUL Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Armed conflict in Afghanistan claimed the lives of over 2,000 civilians from January to October 2009, and the numbers are rising, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).KABUL Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Armed conflict in Afghanistan claimed the lives of over 2,000 civilians from January to October 2009, and the numbers are rising, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

“In the first 10 months of 2009, UNAMA recorded 2,021 civilian deaths, compared with 1,838 for the same period in 2008, and 1,275 in 2007,” Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner on human rights, said in a statement sent to the UN Security Council on 11 November by her deputy, Kyung-wha Kang.

Civilians have increasingly been caught in the cross-fire and their basic human rights such as access to health, education, food and shelter have been violated by the warring parties, the statement said.

“Civilian casualties continue to mount, with hundreds killed every year by armed anti-government elements, government forces, and international forces carrying out both air strikes and ground assaults,” it said.

More civilians have died in attacks by Taliban insurgents than by aerial strikes and military operations by pro-government Afghan and international forces: According to UNAMA, 1,397 were killed by anti-government elements, 465 by pro-government forces and 165 by other actors.

August was the deadliest month for Afghan civilians, with 294 reported deaths, UNAMA said.

However, a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, rejected UNAMA’s findings and blamed pro-government forces for most of the civilian deaths.

Impunity

Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM), a local rights watchdog, said a culture of impunity had exacerbated human rights violations.

“Thousands of civilians have been killed by warring parties over the past few years but not a single individual has been convicted of crimes against humanity or war crimes,” Ajmal Samadi, the director of ARM, told IRIN.

Similar criticisms were voiced by Nader Nadery, a commissioner with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC): “There is a total state of impunity on the part of the Taliban who often deliberately harm civilians.”

In UN rights commissioner Pillay’s statement to the Security Council “more political will and less political exceptionalism” has been requested in order to protect civilians in situations of armed conflict.

“A higher level of political will must be mobilized to take timely and effective action to prevent atrocities, protect the vulnerable, hold perpetrators to account, and ensure redress for victims,” Pillay was quoted in a press release on 11 November as saying.

“The failure to pursue a credible transitional justice strategy including holding to account those responsible for the gravest of crimes over more than three decades of war, and the climate of impunity created thereby, is a significant factor in the challenging political context and growing insecurity that now envelope Afghanistan,” it said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87003HARADH-SANAA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Reports from various UN agencies operating in northern Yemen indicate that many people displaced by fighting between Houthi-led insurgents and government forces would rather live with host families or in informal camps then in official camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). HARADH-SANAA Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Reports from various UN agencies operating in northern Yemen indicate that many people displaced by fighting between Houthi-led insurgents and government forces would rather live with host families or in informal camps then in official camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“A major reason why some IDPs prefer to stay outside is cultural,” Mai Barazi, a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) team leader in Haradh, told IRIN. “They [IDPs] are conservative people and their cultural values don’t allow for their women to be seen by strangers.”

“The camp [al-Mazraq in Haddadh District, Hajjah Governorate] which is now full, was established in a spontaneous way; the local council was supposed to run it. However, they did not have the expertise and experience to do so, and therefore in many cases tents were pitched very close to each other with little privacy for females,” Barazi said.

Also, many IDPs come with their animals and they want to keep them close to where they live, which is very difficult to accommodate given that the camp is full and there is little space available, Barazi explained.

Naseem Ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN they wanted IDPs living around the camp [al-Mazraq] in informal sites to be in the camp so they could be provided with better services.

“Some of them [IDPs] refuse to go to the camps because they come from a Bedouin [nomadic] lifestyle; they are goat herders, or subsistence farmers. They have come with their animals to the camp, but you have to adjust to the regulations of the camp. You have to submit your weapons before you go into the camp and you can’t take all your animals in,” Ur-Rehman said.

According to the UNHCR northern Yemen situation report of 2 November, the same pattern of more IDPs staying outside camps is true in Amran Governorate, where only 475 IDPs were staying at the sole camp there - Khaiwan camp - compared to 9,078 registered IDPs outside the camp.

Five camps in Saada Governorate - Al-Talh A, Al-Talh B, Al-Sam and Al-Ihsa camps, run by the Yemeni Red Crescent (YRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Al-Mandaba - were as of 4 November hosting 10,810 IDPs, while as many as 51,121 IDPs were registered by aid workers as staying with relatives or friends in Saada city, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Too much focus on camps?

In a special report on IDPs dated 12 November, ICRC drew attention to the fact that most IDPs do not end up in camps but are taken in by host communities and families.

"When people think of IDPs they automatically think of tents and camps," said ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger.

"The focus on camps means that what happens to the majority of displaced people - those who seek refuge with host communities - is often ignored," he said. "The report argues that these people are often the most vulnerable as they rely on the support of host communities that may already be extremely poor. The challenge, therefore, is to help not only the displaced but also the people who take them in."

Rabab Al-Rifai, a spokesperson for ICRC in Sanaa, told IRIN ICRC was providing IDPs with humanitarian assistance wherever they felt safe. “If they feel safe in host communities we would be assisting them and their hosts there. If they want to come to a camp, we will be ready to provide them with humanitarian aid in the camp,” al-Rifai said.

Andrej Mahecic, a UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, said on 10 November that some 175,000 people in Yemen had been displaced by intermittent fighting since 2004.

at/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87005FREETOWN Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Some 20,000 people wounded in Sierra Leone's war are receiving micro-grants as part of efforts to rebuild lives and livelihoods in the still fragile country. FREETOWN Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Some 20,000 people wounded in Sierra Leone's war are receiving micro-grants as part of efforts to rebuild lives and livelihoods in the still fragile country.

The initial grants of 300,000 leones (US$80) each are part of a government "reparations" programme, implemented by the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA). The cash is aimed at boosting people's livelihoods, through training or a business start-up, as they await further health, education and other assistance.

NaCSA's Amadu Bangura said they planned to continue assistance in 2010 but were short of funds for the reparations programme; current funding of $3 million was made available by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The commission is working on securing more funds and appealing to various donors.

Sierra Leone is still facing socio-economic challenges – some remnants of the war, others new. Finance Minister Samura Kamara noted falling diamond prices, decreasing remittances and imports, and drug-trafficking as new burdens. Sixty percent of youths are unemployed, according to the government.

With 300,000 leones a small-scale farmer could buy tools and rice seeds; an informal shopkeeper could purchase a start-up stock of biscuits and other goods.

Peace

Grant recipients told IRIN that nothing would erase the gang rapes endured in the war or restore amputated limbs, but they were grateful for the assistance.

"I am no longer able to do farming with the pain I experience from time to time," said Thomas Masuba, whose hand was amputated. "I will use the money to start a small-scale business, probably selling food and drink."

Madam Kailakkah was a breast-feeding mother when she was gang-raped during the war. She said the initial grant was small but she would do her best to invest in farming. "The 300,000 leones cannot appease me, but [through the country's peace and reconciliation process] I have forgiven those rapists whom I still see around in nearby villages."

Assistance to war victims was among the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Amputees, victims of sexual violence, and others injured in the war are entitled to free medical care, and education and housing assistance under the reparation programme, Bangura said.

Alhaji Lamin Jusu Jarka, head of the national amputees and war-wounded association, said it was good that the government was providing micro-grants to "kick-start" reparations – many injured, unable to find jobs, depended on reparations – but "Delay in the overall implementation of the TRC recommendations is frustrating."

sr/np/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87007HARADH Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - Hundreds of civilians have been fleeing their villages along the border with Saudi Arabia following clashes between Yemen’s Houthi-led Shia insurgents and the Saudi armed forces, according to a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) official.HARADH Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - Hundreds of civilians have been fleeing their villages along the border with Saudi Arabia following clashes between Yemen’s Houthi-led Shia insurgents and the Saudi armed forces, according to a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) official.

“Over the past three days we had over 100 families arriving in the [al-Mazraq] camp every day - more than 300 families [2,100 people],” UNHCR team leader Mai Barazi told IRIN on 10 November.

The camp, which is about 40 minutes drive from Haradh, in the northwestern province of Hajjah, currently has an estimated 8,700 internally displaced persons (IDPs). “Another 11,000 IDPs are sheltered by host families and communities in this part of Yemen,” Marie Marullaz, UNHCR associate external relations officer in Sanaa, told IRIN on 11 November.

“Some came from Saudi Arabia, to where they had fled before escaping fighting in the Malahaid area [west of Saada],” Barazi said.

“The elderly, single mothers and children represent a significant proportion of the new arrivals. Most are coming from Khuba area where they had taken refuge after having fled the fighting in Saada Governorate [between the government and Houthi rebels]. It is thus their second or third displacement,” Marullaz said.

Cousins Ahmed Makhdari and Ahmed Jabar, who arrived in the camp last week, said they fled fighting in the Malahaid area a month ago. “We ran away to Saudi Arabia, but they sent us back to Yemen and we came here,” Mahkdari said.

“Many of these IDPs report continued deportations by Saudi authorities during the last few days… They claim to have been deported without any of their personal belongings, including their ID cards, which might in turn delay their registration. At the same time, UNHCR is working with local authorities to ensure that legitimate new IDP arrivals are all allowed to register,” Marullaz said.

“The camp is full”

The most recent UNHCR figures on arrivals show a marked increase on last week when on average 10-20 families (70-140 people) were arriving in al-Mazraq each day.

“The camp is full, but we are doing all we can to accommodate the new arrivals. We’ve put up at least 100 new tents for the newcomers and at least nobody is out in the open - they have some shelter. More than 100 families have been accommodated at the camp’s transition centre, where newcomers stay initially before moving to a tent within the camp,” Barazi said.

As more IDPs arrive, aid workers say congestion at the camp is becoming a serious problem. “We are 15 people in one tent and it is very crowded,” Makhdari said.

Barazi said it was very important to set up a second IDP camp in the area as soon as possible.

“Al-Mazraq 2 is under construction and will allow the accommodation of IDPs in about one month. The government has accepted the offer of the UAE [United Arab Emirates] Red Crescent to take over complete responsibility for the construction and management of Al Mazraq 2 Camp,” Marullaz said.

Saudi aid route

UNHCR launched a cross-border aid operation [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86536] in October through Saudi Arabia to meet the needs of IDPs trapped in and around Saada city. Whether the Saudi aid route remains open following the reported incursions by Houthi rebels into Saudi territory is unclear, though on 6 November Andrej Mahecic told a news briefing [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/FBUO-7XJHAS?OpenDocument&cc=yem] in Geneva that UNHCR hoped an aid convoy carrying shelter supplies would be able to enter northern Yemen from Saudi Arabia “in the next few days”.

On 10 November the UNHCR office in Riyadh was informed by the Saudi authorities that the situation at the Alp border crossing with Yemen was stable, allowing UNHCR to continue its cross-border activities, said Marullaz.

“We are hopeful that we will receive the security clearances from the Saudi authorities for the next aid convoy in the coming days,” she added.

Sporadic clashes since 2004 between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, which escalated in August 2009, have forced some 175,000 IDPs to flee their homes, according to UNHCR. In response to a border skirmish that killed at least one Saudi soldier, Saudi air strikes on 5 November reportedly hit strongholds of the Shia rebel group.

The Houthis complain that they have been politically, economically and religiously marginalized by the government, and want a return to the autonomous rule they enjoyed before 1962.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86977SVAY KHLEANG Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - Cambodia marked a milestone in its history when the first of a series of UN-backed trials began in February to hold five Khmer Rouge leaders accountable for crimes during their rule (1975-79).SVAY KHLEANG Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - Cambodia marked a milestone in its history when the first of a series of UN-backed trials began in February to hold five Khmer Rouge leaders accountable for crimes during their rule (1975-79).

More than punishing a few individuals, providing answers for a nation still suffering from collective post-traumatic stress may be the most vital function of the specially created war crimes tribunal, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), [http://www.eccc.gov.kh/english/] say experts.

However, rights groups have questioned the independence of the tribunal and accused the government of interference in its workings.

Meanwhile most of Cambodia’s population has had little access to the tribunal and lacks awareness of its proceedings.

According to a survey [http://hrc.berkeley.edu/pdfs/So-We-Will-Never-Forget.pdf] published in January 2009 by the Human Rights Center of the University of California, Berkeley, 85 percent of those surveyed had little or no knowledge of the ECCC.

The tribunal, established in early 2006 and based in the capital Phnom Penh, is a welcome but distant phenomenon for most people, since about 80 percent of Cambodia’s population of 14.4 million live in rural areas, according to UN figures.

Moreover, half the country’s population is under 20 and never lived under the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist regime.

Much of the younger generation is unfamiliar with the details of the regime’s atrocities, in part because of a complete lack of Khmer Rouge history in schools until very recently.

Victims’ Unit

According to estimates from most scholars, some 1.7 million Cambodians died from overwork, starvation and murder under the Khmer Rouge’s vision to transform the country into an agrarian utopia.

As part of attempts to give victims of the Khmer Rouge a chance to participate in the tribunal proceedings, a Victims’ Unit started operating under the ECCC in January 2008, although rights groups say it is sorely under-resourced.

To date, 4,460 Cambodians have filed with the court as victims, providing information used by the prosecutors’ and court judges’ investigating teams to gather evidence and solicit testimony.

“It makes it more accessible for Cambodians to have other lay people sit in the court and explain the horrors and atrocities,” Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) [http://www.unakrt-online.org/01_home.htm] division, told IRIN.

“It also provides essential information to the investigators as they gather research,” he said.

The crimes victims describe range from forced marriage and sexual abuse to the murder of loved ones, according to the Unit.

Around half of this group has also filed for civil party status, which gives victims an official role in the court to provide testimony and request reparations.

Outreach efforts

Efforts to make the tribunal reverberate in homes throughout this impoverished country include those of the non-profit Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) [http://www.dccam.org/]

DC-Cam, which documents the crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge, is seen as the leading custodian of primary documents on the regime and is providing material to the ECCC.

Last month, in the remote village of Svay Khleang in the eastern province of Kampong Cham, DC-Cam workers spoke to villagers about the tribunal’s work and how they could participate by sharing their experiences as victims of the regime.

Going on record rattled 62-year-old Man Maisan - under the Khmer Rouge, having your name on a list meant certain death, and for her, the terrifying association had not faded.

“Are others doing this, too?” she asked. Despite her initial trepidation, she had plenty of reasons to come forward: her parents and only child died under the regime.

Villagers watched clips of court proceedings, including a confession and apology to the tribunal by Kaing Guek Eav, the chief of the Khmer Rouge’s most notorious torture centre, codenamed S-21.

Older members of the crowd gasped when images of black-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers appeared during a documentary on the regime’s rule - for many, these figures were in the flesh the last time they had seen them.

“It reminds me of my experiences then, how my parents were killed,” said Yim Somlok, 80, who watched the tribunal for the first time like many others in the audience.

“It’s good to show everyone but it’s also difficult for me to see the children watching such terrible things.”

Muslim minority

The Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror was especially hard on Svay Khleang, which, historically, had been the heart of Cambodia’s minority Muslim community.

It was here, after the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, that the Khmer Rouge implemented with particular fervour their xenophobic campaign to stamp out identities they considered foreign to the country.

“I’m hoping the tribunal will acknowledge the particular suffering of the Muslim people,” said Piyamin Yusoh, 56, the village’s current Muslim leader.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86980KABUL Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has denounced a NATO-led military operation at its office in Qalat, capital of the southern province of Zabul, on 7 November. KABUL Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has denounced a NATO-led military operation at its office in Qalat, capital of the southern province of Zabul, on 7 November.

In a press statement NATO said its soldiers killed one “enemy militant” and detained a few “suspected militants” at the compound which, it said, was “historically used by Taliban commanders”.

ARCS said the person killed was the guest of an ARCS staff driver.

“Three ARCS employees who were detained by NATO forces have now been released,” Saleem Wardak, the organization’s spokesman in Kabul, told IRIN, adding that the office had been damaged.

On 2 September the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan reported a “violent entry” by US forces into its hospital in Wardak Province, and on 28 August the Health Ministry reported the destruction of a hospital in Paktika Province as a result of fighting between insurgents and international forces.

ad/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86954MASINDI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Forced repatriation of displaced persons in Uganda to their original homes in the north is "inhuman and against the government policy of voluntary return", local officials have said.MASINDI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Forced repatriation of displaced persons in Uganda to their original homes in the north is "inhuman and against the government policy of voluntary return", local officials have said.

Hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled clashes between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and government forces in the 1990s, and sought refuge in the central district of Masindi, were recently rounded up by local authorities and sent back on trucks to northern districts.

"We hear that these IDPs are being rounded [up] and loaded into trucks and brought back to their districts in northern Uganda; this is against the principle of the voluntary return of formerly displaced persons to their homes," Kitgum District [northern Uganda] chairman John Ogwok Komakech said.

Sources in Masindi said 2,492 IDPs living in Kihura A village, 1,300 in Kihura B, 1,511 in Kasubi and 1,843 in Nyamiringa were to be repatriated.

The Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Coordinator for the Office of the Prime Minister in Amuru, northern Uganda, Lilly Adong, said the government had intervened.

"The whole exercise was stopped because it was done in total violation of IDP rights… IDPs being repatriated have expressed concern over their security and dignity," she told IRIN. "These people were loaded into a truck and dumped in Amuru at a police station without our notice."

Joseph Otto, who fled Mucwini village in Kitgum District in 1996, said he would remain in Kitgum town because he could not go back to the village with nothing to start a life.

Other IDPs said they were born in Masindi and did not know where to go, while some had vegetable gardens or children at school in Masindi.

"I was forced onto the truck by one of the law enforcement officers in Nyamiringa village where I was living," Harriet Achayo, who fled Guru-Guru village in Amuru District in 1997, told IRIN at Ociti return site in Amuru. "They said they were taking us back because the land we are occupying will be planted with sugar cane."

Achayo and 122 other IDPs were dumped at Amuru police station, local officials said. Another 93 were taken to Pader District.

Relative peace returned to northern Uganda after the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement between the LRA and the government in 2006. Since then, most IDPs have returned to their original villages.

Observers, however, say services at places of return are failing to meet the demands of returning populations. These include schools which lack housing for teachers, classrooms, latrines and water points.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86958NAIROBI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Armed groups in Sudan's Darfur region have continued to violate a UN arms embargo as well as international humanitarian and human rights law, a new report by a UN panel of experts has said.NAIROBI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Armed groups in Sudan's Darfur region have continued to violate a UN arms embargo as well as international humanitarian and human rights law, a new report by a UN panel of experts has said.

"All parties to the conflict continue to fail to meet their affirmative obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law in areas under their control," the report said.

"Among the armed movements, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is the most active violator of the arms embargo, carrying out repeated attacks," it said.

Sudan has rejected the report saying it would demand that the Security Council terminate the panel’s mandate. "We are fed up with this committee," news reports quoted its ambassador to the UN, Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim, as saying. "Our position is a total rejection of this report."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86960HARARE Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Intervention by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to resolve a dispute between Zimbabwe's unity government partners has highlighted the redundancy of an oversight body specifically established to smooth the road of political reconciliation.HARARE Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Intervention by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to resolve a dispute between Zimbabwe's unity government partners has highlighted the redundancy of an oversight body specifically established to smooth the road of political reconciliation.

The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) was constituted on 30 January 2009 by the SADC Facilitation Team to ensure that the signatories abided by the terms of Zimbabwe's Global Political Agreement (GPA), signed on 15 September 2008.

According to article 22 of the GPA - which paved the way for the formation of the unity government in February 2009 - JOMIC would "ensure full and proper implementation of the letter and spirit of this agreement ... [and] receive reports and complaints in respect of any issue related to the implementation, enforcement and execution of this agreement."

JOMIC has been plagued by funding shortages and "does not have legal or statutory powers to enforce the implementation of the GPA. That therefore means it has limitations in terms of ensuring the full and proper implementation of the political agreement, and that forces everybody to work on consensus," Elton Mangoma, economic planning minister and co-chair of JOMIC, told IRIN.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, "disengaged" from the unity government on 16 October in protest over President Robert Mugabe's alleged refusal to abide by the terms of the GPA.

This, the most serious breakdown in the unity government so far, has been patched up after the SADC Troika on Defence, Security and Politics met in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, where all parties in the unity government were given a 30-day deadline to resolve outstanding issues.

Mangoma said one of JOMIC's mandates was "to serve as a catalyst in creating and promoting an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between the political parties, and to promote continuing dialogue ... If everything was working according to plan, then the recent meeting in Maputo would not have taken place." The secretariat now had "reasonable" resources and could not be dismissed as "toothless".

"We cannot change the mandate of the JOMIC without amending the GPA. For JOMIC to function smoothly, all outstanding issues to the Global Political Agreement and the SADC communiqué of January 2009 have to be implemented in order to give the country a fresh start," Mangoma noted.

Among the outstanding issues was a transparent land audit to identify multiple farm ownership, halted by fresh farm invasions; the swearing-in of provincial governors, most of whom are MDC representatives, stalled by Mugabe since elections in 2008; media reforms; and the furore over deputy minister of agriculture designate, Roy Bennett.

Bennett, a former white commercial farmer who lost his farm in 2003 during Mugabe's fast-track land reform programme, is currently on trial for weapons possession and intent to commit terrorism and banditry. Bennett's defence team has dismissed the charges as based on a confession extracted under torture.

The MDC has also listed as a stumbling block Mugabe's unilateral appointment of the reserve bank governor and the attorney-general, contrary to the terms of the GPA.

In turn, Mugabe's ZANU-PF contends that the MDC has not done enough to persuade the US and European Union to lift sanctions against hundreds of senior ZANU-PF officials, as well as Mugabe and his family, and that the MDC has failed to stop radio stations funded by foreign governments from broadcasting into Zimbabwe.

Ben Freeth, a Zimbabwean commercial farmer, told IRIN: "As far as we are concerned, JOMIC does not exist. They have not done anything to stop the fresh farm invasions taking place." His farm was taken over by a senior ZANU-PF government official.

"The SADC Tribunal has ruled that some aspects of the land redistribution were illegal, and the government of Zimbabwe has been in contempt of that ruling since June, but JOMIC has not said or done anything about it."

According to JOMIC communications manager Joram Nyathi, "It [JOMIC] cannot force parties to perform any specific provision. JOMIC can only persuade the parties to be faithful to the letter and spirit of the GPA. Where the parties hit a deadlock, JOMIC's role is to try and break it or propose alternatives."

In a recent newspaper column he wrote: "More importantly, because of its role as a 'permanent' negotiating forum of the parties to the GPA, JOMIC cannot afford the luxury of standing on hilltops to attack or condemn its constituent partners for the infringements of the GPA."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86965LESIDAI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Many Kenyan children are in school, but enrolment in the north has been adversely affected by insecurity, food scarcity and traditional attitudes, residents and teachers said.LESIDAI Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Many Kenyan children are in school, but enrolment in the north has been adversely affected by insecurity, food scarcity and traditional attitudes, residents and teachers said.

"I just joined a new school a few weeks ago [20 October]," 14-year-old Kelly Lanyasunya said at Lesidai primary school in Samburu Central District (central-northwestern Kenya). "I got a new uniform and I am making friends but if this area gets insecure, I will have to move to another school."

Like her classmate, Nabik Kekichorumongi, is forced to change schools whenever bandits attack the surrounding villages.

Stephen Leparachwo, head teacher at Lolkunono primary school in Samburu Central, said Lesidai primary school often receives parents bringing their children from Pura, a neighbouring area affected by banditry.

"When they come, some are even without food… The bandits follow the fleeing residents [and their cattle], not giving the children a chance to read," he said.

Cattle-rustling

Much of the insecurity is due to cattle-rustling between the Samburu, Pokot, Turkana and Borana communities, according to local residents. In September, for example, Pokot cattle raiders killed 32 people in Samburu Central.

Rustling has also affected food production, especially in fertile areas like Ngano on the Kirisia ranges, where bandits lurk in the beautiful landscape.

In 2008, insecurity worsened in Ngano, according to the headmaster of a local school, Simon Lenolkulal. "We could hear gunshots, so we were seeking cover on the ground with the children," he said, recalling a recent incident.

"There is a high rate of transition even of school teachers here… Teachers are reluctant to work here because of the insecurity. One week there is peace, the next week we are moving... Every week we enrol new children, then when there is tension they leave."

The school relies on food aid from agencies like the UN World Food Programme (WFP). According to Lenolkulal, however, people could farm the land and eliminate food aid, if there were more security.

At neighbouring Lgoss primary school, deputy head teacher Bernadeta Lesuruan told IRIN: "When there is conflict and the parents flee, we have more children coming to the classes."

Hunger

Food scarcity tends to drive up school attendance, local residents said.

When there is a general food distribution, enrolment in school goes down, while in more difficult times the number of children increases, Lesuruan said.

"During such times you see young children carrying toddlers to school for the food… During the drought, the children were entirely relying on food in school. Some were fainting after coming from home hungry. When there is no food [at all], school attendance is very low."

In August, WFP was feeding at least 900,000 children in schools to help drought-affected families in Kenya's arid and semi-arid regions.

"Food is an issue," said Peter Emanman, the school feeding programme officer in Samburu Central.

Recent rain has brought hope of an improved food situation. "People are starting to plant but the food crops will not be ready by December [the next school holiday month]. What will happen then?" Emanman asked.

Few girls at school

There are few school teachers and hardly any female teachers. At Lgoss, Lesuruan was the only female member of staff.

"Since I came here [in 2008] more girls are staying in school especially those who would run away for the period of their menstruation," said Lesuruan. "I bring pads to the school for the girls."

Apart from the location of the school, 12km from the nearest shopping centre, the high cost of sanitary pads also feeds absenteeism.

Early marriages also affect girls’ attendance at school: Most drop out in the middle primary school classes. In 2008, some Samburu schools had no girl candidate sitting the national primary school leaving exam.

"There is a mentality that if girls are educated and get jobs, the earnings will not return home but go to the husband," said another teacher.

Most of the boys in school are late entrants; some of the girls stay at home to work. "In this community people are not fond of keeping children in schools," the teacher added.

Night school

However, some communities are trying to educate residents about the value of education: Currently under way in Baragoi District, the pastoralist night school initiative targets cattle herder children who are unable to attend day school.

"The children leave the fields at 4pm and then attend class," said Emanman. "The students get `uji’ (maize meal porridge) in the evening and are taught until 10pm."

Some children from these schools have progressed to the formal education system, but the night school initiative is largely designed to teach basic literacy to herders and others, he added.

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