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Madagascar: Microcredit helps small businesses buck the system in Madagascar

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Source: IRIN
Country: Madagascar

TOLIARA, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - Justine Sija, 60, begins her day at 4am, when she buys catch from local fishermen to hawk on the streets of St Augustin Village, in Madagascar's southern Atsimo-Andrefana Region. The work is hard, but in the last year, access to microcredit has boosted both her business and her hope for the future.

"Before, I used to make 10,000 to 20,000 ariary (US$4.50 to $9) a day. Now, with the credit, I can make double that amount," she told IRIN. "I can put my four [grand]children in school, buy some livestock and save the rest of the money. Eventually, I plan to sell other goods also, like rice and other local products," Sija said.

Madagascar's microfinance sector was established in 1990, but it began to experience rapid growth only in the last 10 years; it was worth about 22.7 billion ariary ($10 million) in 2002, and by 2011, it was valued at about 244.4 billion ariary ($112 million). [ http://www.iss.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/iss/Documents/Research_and_projects/U... ]

Microfinance is seen as a vehicle to help Madagascar attain some of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly the goal on eradicating extreme poverty. The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) [ http://www.uncdf.org/ ] says about 85 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.

The poor often lack access to formal banking and credit services; according to some estimates, only 2 percent of low-income households have access to credit. Instead, they rely on informal money lenders, who charge annual interest rates for unsecured loans of between 120 to 400 percent - compared with microfinance institutions' (MFI) average rate of 36 percent for the same period, or between 2 and 4 percent a month. (The country's annual inflation rate was pegged at 5.4 percent in March 2013.) [ www.instat.mg ]

Madagascar's microfinance sector has about 31 players, which include state, foreign investor and donor-supported initiatives, operating under a legal framework and regulated by Madagascar's Central Bank. [ www.banque-centrale.mg ]

Since 2011, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) [ http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home.html ] and UNCDF have jointly managed the $350,000 Support Programme for Inclusive Finance for Madagascar (PAFIM) [ http://www.uncdf.org/en/madagascar ], which operates through three MFIs and charges a zero interest rate on loans.

"Through this mechanism we have good hope that the cycle of poverty caused by poor farmers' debts will be broken," Fatma Samoura, UNDP's country representative, told IRIN.

Education needed

"People in Madagascar need to work together and the poor here need a direct approach to development. The products are there, but people also need the right education to be able to access them," said Harinavalona Rajaonah, who works at Ombona Tahiry Ifampisamborana Vola (OTIV), one of the UNDP-partnered microfinance organizations.

"We have tried to put a culture of credit access into place here. The hardest part is to change the mentality of the people," Jean Olivier Razafimanantsoa, regional director of the Central Bank-registered credit cooperative Caisses d'Epargne et de Crédit Agricole Mutuelles (CECAM), told IRIN.

"We work together with other organizations in the city, as some people are a member [of other MFIs] everywhere, and so they take out too many loans. Also, the farmers tend to overestimate how much they need. They want us to finance their rice crop, which is worth 700,000 ariary ($321), but they'll come and ask for two million ($917). When you ask them how they got to this amount, they don't know," he said.

All microloan borrowers receive business advice, but with technical assistance and funding from UNDP, microfinance players have also established microcredit education programmes aimed at vulnerable groups.

One such programme, run by CECAM, mainly targets poor female street vendors. Razafimanantsoa says the programme has 1,303 clients, including Sija and other women from St Augustin Village. The women must save between 200 and 400 ariary ($0.09 to $0.18) a week, as part of the initial loan agreement.

They are then enrolled in lending system that goes through nine cycles, the first entitling the recipient to an 80,000 ariary ($36) loan. Each time the clients repay a loan, they are eligible for another, with progressively higher loan ceilings up to 300,000 ariary ($137). Repayment schedules range from a few months to a year. The programme also offers education on basic money management, family planning and health issues.

After completing all the cycles, the women become eligible for CECAM's normal commercial microcredit system.

"Right now, our goal is for these women to eat three times a day and feed their children, but eventually, they should be able to build up a guarantee to get a commercial business going and enter into the regular CECAM system," Razafimanantsoa said.

Cyclone

The weekly obligatory savings plan acts as a buffer against hard times, which is especially important in this cyclone-prone country.

After Cyclone Haruna struck Madagascar in February [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97805/Consecutive-catastrophes-hit-Madaga... ], many of CECAM's clients in Toliara, the regional capital of Atsimo-Andrefana Region, were left penniless.

"The first weeks, we didn't give out any more loans, as we were afraid people would just use the money to eat. We are now helping some of the women who have lost their homes to reschedule their loans," Razafimanantsoa said.

Prisca, 33, who did not provide her family name, from Belem, a district of Toliara, had entered her second credit cycle, and was using the capital to buy eggs from producers to sell at the market. "After I got the microcredit, I went from selling 100 eggs a day to selling up to 300. I could send the children to a private school and was able to buy some chickens," she told IRIN.

But she was left homeless in the wake of the cyclone, and now lives in a displacement camp, sharing a tent with 10 others. "We left with only the clothes on our back. The first week we stayed in a school. Then the BNGRC [National Disaster Risk Reduction Office] came to give us these tents," she said.

Prisca owes a 44,000 ariary ($20) debt to CECAM, and in the interim has enrolled in a cash-for-work project. "We're working to rehabilitate the roads, earning 24,000 ariary ($11) a week. I want to pay the CECAM [debt] first, as that will enable me to take out a new loan. Then, I can earn money again and rebuild the house little by little. This credit is what takes care of our daily needs," she said.

In the wake of the disaster, Sija, the fishmonger, was grateful for the loan's savings requirement. "We pay back our loans from our savings," she said. "After the cyclone in February, we had some problems paying, as there were no more goods to sell, so it was good I had saved up some money."

Growing businesses

The programmes are working.

Hanisoa Ravalison, 43, operates a small roadside restaurant selling sausages and simple meals in the village of Ambanitsena, about 26km east of Antananarivo, the capital. Following a visit by an OTIV agent, who recruits prospective clients, Ravalison decided to expand her business.

"At first, I borrowed money to renovate and enlarge the snack bar and to buy a fridge," she told IRIN. "Now, I use money to buy more goods, so I can make more profit."

Ravalison is in the tenth borrowing cycle of OTIV's 12 cycles - which have an initial loan of 60,000 ariary ($27.50) and reach a loan ceiling of 440,000 ariary ($201).

"Before I received training, I just used the money I made to buy whatever was needed. Now, I separate personal expenses and money for the business. I also know the difference between sales and profits and know that I need to use part of the profits to make the company run."

On a good day, her restaurant takes in 85,000 ariary ($39). "During holidays and festivals, we sell as many as 100kg of sausages," she said.

Her husband has set up a second restaurant, and two of their five children work in the family businesses. Ravalison said her next business plan was to open a wholesale food business.

Liva Harininana Ramanatenasoa began a small business selling charcoal in Ambanitsena. "One day, an agent from OTIV came along and explained that, with microcredit, I could do better," she told IRIN.

With the first loan, Ramanatenasoa bought more charcoal. "Without credit, I would be able to buy 10 bags maximum, but with credit, I could afford as many as 22, so I made a lot more profit," she said.

Two years after first enrolling in the microcredit scheme, Ramanatenasoa used the profits from her charcoal business to buy the rights to a stone quarry for 200,000 ariary ($90). She now employs a staff of 14. Profits from the business have enabled her to build a house and put her children in school.

"If it wasn't for the credit, I would have still been selling coal," she said.

ar/go/rz [END]


Lebanon: Crisis in Syria

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Source: Oxfam
Country: Jordan, Lebanon, occupied Palestinian territory, Syrian Arab Republic

1.4 million refugees have now fled violence in Syria and are in desperate need of shelter, food and water. Over half of them are children.

The crisis is set to escalate, but our resources are stretched to breaking point. Any donation, no matter how small, will help us support more families caught up in this crisis.

The situation

Fighting continues to escalate across northern Syria and its western border. With growing numbers of people fleeing the conflict in Syria, the situation has become critical. Aid agencies and host countries have almost reached their capacity to cope with recent surges.

The UN estimates that almost 7 million Syrians inside of Syria are in need of assistance, including 4.25 million internally displaced.
Thousands are continuing to flee Syria daily.
The total number of refugees in neighboring countries is now more than 1.4 million.
It is estimated that the population of Lebanon has increased by 10% and the population of Jordan by 6%. This is putting extreme pressure on local infrastructure.
Additionally, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, the majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan live in urban areas, outside of formal camp settings. This makes it harder for them to access vital help.

What Oxfam is doing

We aim to reach 650,000 people in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria with emergency relief in the next 12 months.

In Lebanon, Oxfam is helping Palestinian refugees arriving from Syria and Syrian refugees who have fled the violence in their country. Since rental prices are soaring, we're providing vulnerable families with cash to help them afford safe housing, and also buy the basic needs for their families. We're also planning to construct latrines and ensure people have access to safe sources of drinking water.

Early in the year, we and our local partners have been distributing warm clothes, mattresses, blankets, heaters, rugs, kitchen utensils, hygiene kits and plastic sheets for weather proofing.

In Jordan, we're working in Za'atari refugee camp - providing people with access to water and sanitation, and coordinating hygiene training to prevent the spread of life-threatening diseases. We have currently reached some 20.000 Syrian refugees with emergency latrines and will soon complete shower, toilet and laundry blocks to reach 8.000

We also work to help the vulnerable refugees who are living outside the camp and in host communities over the next few months, and aim to support people with cash for rental support and basic needs, as well as improving access to safe water and public health monitoring.

We are not present inside Syria however we are committed to providing assistance inside Syria in the areas with the greatest humanitarian needs. In the absence of official authorization to work in Syria, we are actively exploring ways to address urgent humanitarian needs and trying to gain access to people in need in Syria through the United Nations and official channels. Currently, there are serious access and security challenges to working in Syria, so our entry would need to be well planned and coordinated.

Updated 07 May 2013.

Afghanistan: Afghanistan: IOM Humanitarian Assistance Programme (HAP) Stock Update Countrywide at May 2013

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Source: International Organization for Migration, US Agency for International Development, Information Management and Mine Action Programs
Country: Afghanistan
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occupied Palestinian territory: Israel to 'legalise' wildcat settler outposts: NGO

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Source: Agence France-Presse
Country: occupied Palestinian territory

05/16/2013 15:16 GMT

JERUSALEM , May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday the government wants to give retroactive approval to four West Bank settlement outposts it had previously pledged to at least partially demolish.

In response to a Peace Now petition to the Supreme Court against the outposts, the state attorney's office said settlers had now purchased the private Palestinian land on which they built, paving the way for the government to give its blessing.

"In the response, the government declares its intention to legalise four outposts, in isolated areas," Peace Now said, adding that this was an affront to US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

"The intention to legalise outposts as new settlements is no less than a slap in the face of Secretary Kerry's new peace process," the statement said.

"The... government is indicating it is not committed to peace nor to a two-state solution."

Givat Assaf, Givat HaRoeh, Maaleh Rehavam and Mitzpe Lachish outposts are among six listed in a 2005 government report as deserving immediate eviction and later ordered shut by a court order.

Repeated government appeals have delayed the process.

The Supreme Court is to hear the Peace Now petition on May 22.

The largely right-wing coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws much of its political support from settlers.

Israel considers settlement outposts built without government approval to be illegal. They usually consist of little more than a few trailer homes.

But the international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank -- including east Jerusalem -- to be illegal.

The issue is one of the most contentious in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It brought peace talks to a halt in September 2010, when an Israeli freeze on new West Bank settlement construction expired and Netanyahu declined to renew it.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas says negotiations will not resume until Israel halts settlement building.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina echoed Peace Now's condemnation on Thursday, saying in a statement that "this decision will help destroy US efforts to relaunch the peace process," according to news agency WAFA.

scw/jad/al

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

Afghanistan: Mind the gender justice gap

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Source: Peace Direct
Country: Afghanistan

May 16 2013: Dan Killian, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for USAID's Rule of Law Stabilisation Programme – Informal Component (RLS-I), looks at how the project is strengthening women's rights and access to justice in Afghanistan.

The contrast was striking. Village elders and government officials of Kandahar’s Zhari district were gathered to discuss women’s access to justice, and the elders sang the same song in the same key. Yes, women have access to justice, they recited in turn. I myself see women who come here to court, prosecutor and other offices to demand their rights, said one. Of course, women have access to formal justice and can bring their cases and complaints to district and the court, said another. Ours is a cultured society and we are Pashtuns, so the formal justice actors have exceeding respect for women and solve women’s problems before the men. Concluded a third: works should be done for public awareness, women should get information about their rights and duties, and there should be women in the formal justice system so our women have someone to complain to.

Curious, as it was only the previous day that the same discussion was held with the women of Zhari, and they sang a different song altogether. We think women have less access to the formal justice system, because the men do not allow us to go to such places as the district center, they recited in turn. They think it a disgrace for women to go to these places, said one. They say we are Afghans and our honor does not accept such a thing. Said another: there are women who cannot raise their voice because of unfair customs. If a man were to allow a woman to refer a case to the formal justice system, the other men would taunt him, saying look, here is the coward who let his wife out of the house. Concluded a third: workshops and discussion sessions should be arranged for Mullahs and men, so that they realise that going to the formal justice system is not such a disgrace.

Many of the women who complain about their lack of access to justice tend to be the wives of the same village elders who proclaim that women face no such lack.

Sadly, divergent accounts of local dispute resolution in Afghanistan is a rather common theme in the field reports of USAID’s local peacebuilding efforts in Afghanistan’s rural and generally insecure areas. Here I refer to the Rule of Law Stabilisation Programme – Informal Component (RLS-I), funded by USAID and implemented by Checchi and Company Consulting.

Survey data seconds that emotion. Six years of national polling by The Asia Foundation indicates that, while traditional, non-state dispute resolution is clearly preferred to Afghanistan’s fledgling state justice system, Afghan women have both a more positive view of state justice and a dimmer view of informal justice relative to their male counterparts.

RLS-I’s own evaluation data is more specific: in surveys of Afghans who submit to the mediation efforts of local elders of various sorts in order to have some conflict settled, female disputants assess their experience anywhere from 5-30% lower relative to males, on dimensions of due process, corruption either from external actors or from the mediators themselves, and the overall justice of the outcome.

It may be that the social desirability bias in our data comes from the men much more than the women, but this gender perception gap is consistent with a great and varied body of evidence pointing to lower access to justice for Afghan women, regardless of whether the mediator is a district judge or a village elder.

It’s not all bad. In fact, RLS-I receives a steady litany of anecdotes of women who, after receiving education and encouragement, feel emboldened to intervene and “de-escalate” petty village dramas before they turn into some horrific blend of a generational blood feud between neighbouring families and a daytime talk show love quadrangle.

Both elders and respected women are restoring women’s rights to inheritance granted under Shari’ah and Afghan law but typically ignored by custom or deliberate practice. And both elders and citizens are responding to messaging that giving away girls in marriage – whether to settle a debt, halt further bloodletting in a serious conflict, or merely bring income to parents whose livelihoods are at permanent risk – is neither legal nor Islamic (See here for a retrospective account of a recent brouhaha over a 6-year-old girl and a $2,500 debt). More formally, RLS-I evaluation data suggests that an elder who passes through our full curriculum of seminars on legal rights and protections in Afghan constitutional law and Shari’ah improves his legal knowledge in the neighbourhood of 14%, while Afghans with local conflicts they’d like to settle peaceably improve their assessment of their experience with local elders by 31% for due process and 25% for overall justice of the outcome.

Citizens who receive our outreach material are 15% more likely to affirm that giving away girls in marriage is illegal and un-Islamic, and exhibit a 9% boost in general knowledge of their legal rights to boot. There is some indication that RLS-I might even help narrow the gender justice gap, but that remains to be seen.

RLS-I strengthens informal justice against Taliban justice encroachment and nudges the informal toward a slowly-expanding state justice system, all while addressing and mitigating the women’s rights concerns associated with a male-dominated forum. The situation is grim in places and more hopeful in others, but we’ll keep trying to make it more hopeful everywhere. That’s all peacebuilding is sometimes.

Bangladesh: Cyclone Mahasen: a report from Bangladesh

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Source: Save the Children
Country: Bangladesh

by Khaza Uddin, Save the Children in Bangladesh

Thursday 16 May, 2.30pm BST: Communication and transportation have been disrupted, cutting off several communities in the south of Bangladesh. At least 25 villages in Patuakhali District were flooded yesterday, due to a storm surge that washed away the flood-control dams built to protect the people living near the river.

This storm surge was reported to be at least 5 feet in height and damaged 500 houses. In another southern district, Jhalokathi, heavy rainfall is ongoing and most rivers are continuing to rise. Cyclone shelters are packed with vast numbers of people and it is feared current dry food supplies are insufficient to meet demand.

The Bangladeshi government has ordered 1 million people in 15 coastal districts to take shelter in safe places; however, the number of cyclone shelters is not believed to be adequate to accommodate all the evacuees.

Save the Children is responding

It is predicted that at least 8 million people – 4.1 million of them in Bangladesh – will be affected by Cyclone Mahasen. Save the Children have already initiated our response, targeting the districts of Barisal, Patuakhai, Barguna, Khulna & Bagherhat, Satkhira, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar in partnership with 8 coast-based implementing partners.

We are readying 1,500 ready-to-use food packs and 500 packs of other life-saving relief items, and have mobilized 5,000 trained youth volunteers and 700 village disaster-management committees who are all ready to respond.

Damage assessment teams are also ready and will work alongside other national and international NGOs. Save the Children also has 4 speedboats ready to assist the endangered communities, particularly their children, in each sub-district affected by the storm surges and flooding.

Benin: Care for ME is about children everywhere

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Source: SOS Children's Villages International
Country: Benin, Sri Lanka

16/05/2013 - Improving the quality of care for vulnerable children is a global issue. Delegates at a conference at the SOS Children’s Villages International headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, have today highlighted how this can be addressed through a campaign that boldly sets out to achieve quality care for every child.

AFRICA - Tackling issues of corporal punishment and achieving legally binding standards related to child welfare was the starting point for Salimane Issifou National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Benin. “With the Care for ME initiative, other organisations and the wider community will be assisted to understand why children must be protected in a variety of ways.”

Funds raised for children by some groups were misused according to the results of an assessment conducted by RESPES; a network of 57 NGOs in Benin. SOS Children’s Villages took a leading role to address this and a variety of issues relating to the care of children. “Working in cooperation with UNICEF we proposed legislation to improve norms and standards based on UN guidelines. Vested interests who benefited from the status quo lobbied against us. After protracted efforts we convinced various cabinet ministers of the need to put the needs of children first, our guidelines were signed into law in recent months. Now, childcare governance, accountability and staffing levels are legislated for. The rights of children in Benin are strengthened to address issues such as corporal punishment. The state acknowledged the leading role played by of SOS Children’s Villages Benin and encourage us to make this legislation matter by helping others involved with child welfare to put the law it into practice. The Care for ME initiative will be pivotal in this regard,” said Mr Issifou.

EUROPE - In Lithuania, advocacy adviser Virginija Pleckeviciene believes the perception of the wider community needs to be addressed. “Many incorrectly believe that children who have food and a roof over their heads are better off in institutional care, than living at home in an at-risk family. The negative psychological effects of institutionalised childcare are not understood by many. There is little understanding of the concept of family strengthening, which has proven so successfully for SOS Children’s Villages in Lithuania and elsewhere. This is one of several community based care models we promote. Care for ME will help in this regard and encourage the wider community to understand that children are better being cared for in the community, in a family environment.”

THE AMERICAS - Public services and legislation is relatively favourable to children in Uruguay. However, it lacks the family focus that is necessary to address domestic violence. These impacts greatly on women and on their capacity to provide children with the level of care that is much needed. Their children can suffer in many ways and are subsequently at high risk of neglect. According to an assessment conducted by Cynthia Pérez and team at SOS Children’s Villages Uruguay, “many of such children end up in institutional care. Care for ME in Uruguay is about influencing public policy to ensure children have the right to live in a family environment and to receive quality care”.

ASIA - Formalising childcare standards is especially challenging in Sri Lanka; a country recovering from a 30-year civil war that ended in 2009. “Catering for the needs of generations of displaced people with diverse cultures will require a tailor made approach to address issues of quality care,” said Aruna Soysa of SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka. In common with many other countries across the globe Sri Lanka will ensure the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care become the legal standard to ensure that every child has the right to quality care. “Care for ME is about uniting SOS Children’s Villages with individuals, communities and organisations at every level truly believe in providing quality care for every child”

Listen to Salimane Issifou - Advocating for Benin's children

Bangladesh: Communities in Bangladesh are being helped by Tearfund partners to deal with a cyclone that’s struck the southern coast.

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Source: Tearfund
Country: Bangladesh

Initial reports say five people have died as cyclone Mahesen battered the capital Chittagong and surrounding areas.

Thousands of Bangladeshis are taking shelter amid fears that high waves and heavy rain will bring extensive flooding and property damage.

Teams from Tearfund partners, the Bangladesh Nazarene Mission and Koinonia, have been working with government authorities in the Dacope and Mongla areas to alert communities and to be ready to deal with any damage.

Koinonia mobilised teams of volunteers to work on early warning, search and rescue, first aid and shelter management.

Mobiles

Volunteers have been using mobile phones, community meetings and information boards to keep people informed.

Suchitra Behera, Tearfund’s Bangladesh Country Representative, said Tearfund partners were working closely with the authorities: ‘Our partners were contacted by the government in order to help with the response to the building collapse in Dhaka, and they have been called on to prepare and possibly respond to this storm.

‘It’s a great testimony that the church is known by the government as one of the first places to call on for support in such situations.

‘It’s a sign of transformation that the people of Bangladesh are looking at how they can support each other in these times of need - irrespective of religion or race. For Tearfund and our partners that is no small impact.’

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the storm could threaten 8.2 million people in northeast India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.


Democratic Republic of the Congo: RDCongo : 40 tués lors d'un affrontement dans l'Est entre l'armée et un groupe local

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Source: Agence France-Presse
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo

05/16/2013 16:07 GMT

GOMA (RDCongo), 16 mai 2013 (AFP) - Quarante personnes, dont 8 soldats congolais, ont été tuées dans des affrontements entre l'armée et un groupe de miliciens Maï-Maï, dans la province du Nord-Kivu (est de la République démocratique du Congo, RDC), a-t-on appris jeudi de source officielle.

Ces affrontements se sont produits mercredi à l'aube dans la ville de Beni, à environ 250 kilomètres au nord de Goma, capitale provinciale du Nord-Kivu.

"Le bilan est de 32 morts du côté des Maï-Maï et de 8 morts dans les rangs des FARDC" (armée gouvernementale), a déclaré au cours d'une conférence de presse M. Mende, porte-parole du gouvernement et ministre de la Communication.

Un précédent bilan de source militaire locale faisait état de 21 morts: 17 miliciens et 4 soldats.

Selon le colonel Richard Bisamaza, responsable militaire du secteur, des Maï-Maï ont attaqué à l'aube l'état-major local de l'armée à Beni afin de libérer des camarades emprisonnés à la suite d'une incursion dans un quartier de la ville. Ils ont été mis en fuite après une heure d'échanges de tirs.

Plusieurs miliciens ont été lynchés par la foule, a précisé le ministre Mende.

"Le gouvernement félicite les bons citoyens (...) qui ont prêté mains fortes aux forces de défense et de sécurité tout en déplorant les excès perpétrés par quelques-uns", a-t-il commenté.

Sept miliciens, dont un "féticheur", ont été faits prisonniers, toujours selon M. Mende.

Mercredi, lors de la conférence de presse hebdomadaire des Nations unies, un porte-parole militaire de la Mission des Nations unies pour la stabilisation du Congo (Monusco) avait confirmé ces affrontements, qualifiant la situation dans la province du Nord-Kivu de "tendue et imprévisible". La Monusco dispose d'une base à Beni.

Le Nord-Kivu est en proie depuis un an à la rébellion armée du mouvement M23, menée par d'anciens militaires soutenus, selon l'ONU et la RDC, par le Rwanda et l'Ouganda, ce que ces deux pays nient.

Le fait que depuis un an l'armée gouvernementale, soutenue par la Monusco, ait concentré ses efforts dans la lutte contre le M23 a permis à de nombreux groupes miliciens locaux, désignés sous le terme générique de Maï Maï, de proliférer au gré d'alliances locales ou d'intérêts particuliers dans l'est de la RDC, dans les provinces du Nord et du Sud-Kivu.

Les Nations unies ont décidé il y a deux mois de mettre en place une brigade d'intervention de 3.000 hommes dont le mandat sera de pourchasser activement tous les groupes armés dans cette région.

Cette brigade, constituée de Tanzaniens, de Malawites et de Sud-Africains, est en cours d'installation à Goma. Un détachement avancé d'une centaine de soldats est arrivé à la fin de la semaine dernière dans la capitale du Nord-Kivu. Leur chef, le général tanzanien James Mwakibolwa y est arrivé mardi, selon M. Mende.

ak/pb/hba

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

Haiti: Housing Delivery and Housing Finance in Haiti: Operationalizing the national housing policy

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Source: Oxfam
Country: Haiti

Although the 2010 earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's urban infrastructure, it is not the sole cause of the nation's distress today. Rather, the earthquake exposed weaknesses in Haiti's housing ecosystem—including delivery blockages and the absence of effective supply and demand value chains that must be addressed or the nation will never be able to build a successful society with quality affordable urban housing.

Bangladesh: DMIC Situation Report on Cyclonic Storm "MAHASEN" [MAY 16, 2013]

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Source: Government of Bangladesh
Country: Bangladesh
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Highlights

The coast crossing cyclonic storm “MAHASEN” weakened by giving precipitation, moved northeastwards and crossed Noakhali- Chittagong coast at 04 pm today (the 16 may 2013) and now lies over Sitakunda, Feni, Khagrachari region of Bangladesh and adjoining Tripura of India as a land depression. It is likely to move northeasterly direction further inland and weaken gradually by giving precipitation. Under its influence steep pressure gradient lies over north bay. Squally weather may continue over north bay, coastal regions of Bangladesh and the maritime ports.

World: Global Food Security Update - Issue 10, May 2013

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Source: World Food Programme
Country: Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, World, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan (Republic of)
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Food security levels are generally better than a year earlier in East Africa and the Sahel, with most areas facing either IPC phase 1 ‘minimal’ or phase 2 ‘stressed’ conditions, thanks to favorable agro-climatic conditions in 2012.

• Due to high levels of insecurity, pockets of IPC phase 4 ‘emergency’ food security conditions persist in areas of South Sudan’s Jonglei state, and in local areas in northern Mali. Parts of Mindanao province in the Philippines will also face phase 4 ‘emergency’ conditions, following the impacts of Typhoon Bopha. IPC phase 3 ‘crisis’ food insecurity prevails in parts of Haiti due to weather-related shocks in 2012.

• The escalating conflict in Syria continues to lead to displacement and re-displacement of people.
According to UNHCR, 4.25 million people are displaced and some 1.38 million people have fled to neighboring countries. Inside Syria, the food security situation is worsening; OCHA estimates that 6.8 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance. The surge in refugee numbers is stretching host government capacity in Jordan and Lebanon.
The conflict is also disrupting agricultural markets and trade in neighboring countries.

• Renewed conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region and in the Central African Republic has caused new population displacement. Dryness and conflict are causing deterioration in food security conditions in parts of Myanmar.

• High wheat prices are undermining poor household’s food access in Afghanistan, India, Kyrgyz Republic and Pakistan. As the lean season approaches, unusually high coarse grain prices are eroding pastoralist terms of trade in Niger.

• Coffee rust and lower coffee export prices are undermining rural employment in Guatemala and Honduras, impacting food access for households that rely on casual labor.

• Severe flooding in Colombia and Peru has caused displacement and damage to crops.

• Drought in parts of southern Africa has impacted crop development and may drive food price increases in the region.

Kenya: Pastoralism's economic contributions are significant but overlooked

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Source: IRIN
Country: Kenya, World

NAIROBI, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - Pastoralism is often regarded as an antiquated practice ill-suited to the modern economy, yet trade between pastoral communities in Africa - much of it informal and illegal - generated an estimated US$1 billion each year, according to a new book [ http://www.future-agricultures.org/pastoralism/7666-book-pastoralism-and... ] published by the Futures Agriculture Consortium,.

"If we shift our gaze from the capital cities, where the development and policy elite congregate, to the regional centers and their hinterlands where pastoralists live, then a very different perspective emerges. Here we see the growth of a booming livestock export trade, the flourishing of the private sector, the expansion of towns with the inflow of investment, and the emergence of a class of entrepreneurs commanding a profitable market, and generating employment and other business opportunities; and all of this driven without a reliance on external development aid," said the authors of the study.

Pastoralism contributes between 10 and 44 percent of the GDP of African countries. An estimated 1.3 billion people benefit from livestock value chain, according to the International Livestock Research Institute.

"Pastoralism contributes to the livelihoods of millions of people across Africa, in some of the poorest and most deprived areas. It is a critical source of economic activity in dryland areas, where other forms of agriculture are impossible," Ian Scoones, from the Institute of Development Studies [ http://www.ids.ac.uk/ ], told IRIN.

Ced Hesse, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), told IRIN that in East Africa alone, "pastoralism directly supports an estimated 20 million people" and produces "80 percent of the total annual milk supply in Ethiopia, provides 90 percent of the meat consumed in East Africa, and contributes 19 percent, 13 percent and 8 percent of GDP in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, respectively".

He continued, "This is an enormous contribution to the regional economy, but often is unrecognized."

Invisible

IIED's Hesse explains why little attention is paid to pastoralists' contributions: "The benefits that pastoralism brings are invisible to most governments because the methodologies they use for assessing economic activity and growth, the most popular being GDP, are not adapted to pastoralism."

"A 'total economic valuation' framework is needed. When Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, used this methodology to calculate the contribution of livestock to the Kenyan economy, they found livestock's contribution to agricultural GDP is about two and half times greater than official estimates," Hesse said.

"Kenya's livestock were under appreciated and no attempt to enumerate it had been made for decades," the IGAD report said.

Experts like Scoones say the rapid urbanization in Africa will continue to provide increased market opportunities for pastoralists. Not all will benefit from the direct sale of livestock, but there are opportunities for diversification.

"There are spin-off benefits from such trade, including opportunities for engaging in diversified activities, including processing animal products, providing transport, fodder and marketing support, and offering services in the growing small towns in pastoral areas," said Scoones.

"Not all those in pastoralist areas can be involved directly in the growing, vibrant livestock trade that feeds the burgeoning cities across Africa," Scoones added.

Bad press

Yet other than reports of pastoralists suffering from poverty and climate-related shocks, pastoralism receives little attention from national governments or the media.

Of the reporting that does exist, much is negative, according to Media perceptions and portrayals of Pastoralists in Kenya, India and China [ http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/14623IIED.pdf ], an April 2013 IIED report.

In Kenya for instance, 93 percent of news articles on pastoralist analyzed by the authors were about drought and conflict. Fifty-one percent of articles mentioning conflict presented pastoralist as the cause of the problems rather than the victims of conflict.

In India, on the other hand, 60 percent of articles reviewed portrayed pastoralists as victims "who have lost access to grazing land because of the growth of industrial agriculture, the dominance of more powerful social groups, and limits to grazing in forested land, among others."

The bad press has generated calls for pastoralist communities to change their lifestyles.

Media reports also fail to mention the environmental benefits of pastoralism, which can contribute to biodiversity conservation [ http://www.pastoralismjournal.com/content/pdf/2041-7136-2-14.pdf ], and the role it plays in making food systems resilient by, for example, preventing overreliance on drought- and flood-vulnerable crops.

"The media tends to portray pastoralists as a source of problem or as lost causes, yet most media articles about pastoralists do not even quote the pastoralists themselves. The media portrayals paint a partial picture, one that rarely mentions the important economic and environmental benefits of pastoralism, or the way that herder mobility helps increase the resilience of food systems in a changing climate, so that even distant consumers in cities benefit," Mike Shanahan, communication specialist and author of the study, told IRIN.

Minorities Rights Group International observed in its 2012 State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples [ http://www.minorityrights.org/11374/state-of-the-worlds-minorities/state... ] report that pastoralists are being forced to abandon their livelihoods by national governments. Experts see an increase in the phenomenon of land grabs, in which pastoralists and minority groups are driven out of their lands to pave the way for development projects considered more "viable", such as large-scale irrigation projects [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2011.652620 ].

Some experts, like IIED's Hesse, say there is a case for modernizing pastoralism - not in the "sense of settling them or turning them into ranchers", but by focusing on the "logic of pastoralism's production strategies that allow it to produce the benefits in arid and semi-arid environments characterized by rainfall variability."

ko/rz

[END]

Bangladesh: UN OCHA Flash Update 6, Cyclone Mahasen, Bangladesh and Myanmar

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Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Country: Bangladesh, Myanmar

Tropical Cyclone Mahasen, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm, made landfall in Bangladesh on the morning of 16 May (local time), bringing strong winds and heavy rains to Chittagong and surrounding districts. On its current path, it will continue to move northeast from Myanmar and towards the eastern states of India. The current speed at the centre of the storm is around 80 km/h and is expected to reduce its wind speed to 55 km/h as it continues to move inland.

In Bangladesh, an estimated one million people were evacuated from 13 coastal districts in the 24-hour prior to the arrival of the storm. A tidal surge has caused floods in the districts of Barguna, Bhola, Patuakhali, Nohakhali and Laxmipur. The Government has not declared a disaster, and no request for international assistance has been received at this time.

The United Nations met this morning in Dhaka and committed to working collaboratively with the Government and to provide support where required. Humanitarian partners report they are ready to respond. While people have moved to evacuation centres, there have been some instances of resistance due to multiple factors including changes in weather conditions.

The Bangladesh Government, through its Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) has broadcast pre-cyclone Public Service Announcements (PSAs), carrying preparedness messages endorsed by the Department of Disaster Management via national radio. Post-cyclone messages for affected people are on standby to be broadcast immediately after the cyclone has passed.

A distribution plan for food assistance has been developed by humanitarian agencies, to supplement Government food and cash reserves. Essential nutrition and emergency WASH supplies have been pre-positioned for approximately 43,000 households in vulnerable districts. More than 6,000 family kits and two mobile water treatment units have been transferred to Chittagong.

In Myanmar, while it appears that the storm has moved further away from Rakhine state, heavy rain is still expected. Approximately 250 staff members of humanitarian organisations are in country and remain on standby and ready to respond; a number of them with expertise in rapid assessments. Assessment teams will begin assessment of affected sites as soon as possible after the storm subsides.

Assessment teams and protection monitoring continued working today at various camps with the assistance of community leaders, religious leaders, and international aid workers to help alleviate concerns of those resistant to move.

The government estimates nearly 78,000 people from 13 townships in Rakhine State have been relocated in total. UN agencies maintain that all measures must be taken to ensure that no lives are under undue threat. Some communities continued to resist relocatation to Government buildings but were eventually persuaded to move into other nearby locations, including schools, madrasas, and with host communities.

OCHA, UNHCR and UNICEF led training sessions today for staff on inter-sectoral rapid assessment, as agencies and humanitarian partners will initiate a post-storm assessment process across Rakhine in the coming days. The assessment will address the current needs of people in the relocation sites as well as requirements for their future return. At this time, it is unclear when the relocated communities will return to their places of temporary settlement, or whether other options will be made available for some.

Although Mahasen has passed Rakhine State, it is clear that many thousands are still accommodated in areas which make them more vulnerable to the elements and this must not continue. The Government of the United Kingdom today pledged a £4.4 million (US$6.7 million) humanitarian aid package for IDPs in Rakhine State ahead of the cyclone and rainy seasons. The aid package will provide 80,000 people with access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities; treatment for malnourished children; and, hygiene kits for 40,000 people.

OCHA expects to issue another Flash Update tomorrow.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Children treated after attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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Source: MSF
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo

London, 16 May 2013 – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is treating survivors of an attack on Mpeti in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The village, which is home to around one thousand people, was attacked by men armed with bayonets, machetes and wooden clubs on Tuesday morning.

Among the three wounded being treated at Mweso hospital some 40 km away are two young children, one of whom was orphaned in the attack. The mother and 18 month old baby brother of the other child were also killed.

Surgeon Martin Jarmin said, “We’ve received two young children with multiple stab injuries in the chest, back and head, and one adult male with multiple stab injuries in the back and neck. Currently all patients are stable and we hope they will make a good recovery."

MSF carries out mobile clinics in Mpeti that treat around 300 patients every week, mostly for diseases such as malaria. Since the beginning of the year, fighting and insecurity in the area has at times prevented the team from accessing patients in need. Fighting between armed militias in control of different parts of the area had led to regular displacement of the population in previous months. The village is fully deserted at the moment.

Survivors of the attack told MSF that the violence was directly aimed at civilians and that indiscriminate killing resulted in many deaths. Corpses were apparently thrown in the river.

“This was a deplorable and brutal attack in which young children were targeted and their parents killed,” said Hugues Robert, MSF’s head of mission in Goma. “MSF condemns in the strongest terms attacks of this kind against civilians.”

“I suspect that many more died in Mpeti during this attack, either directly from their injuries or because they were unable to get immediate medical attention in the hours that followed. I fear that the patients we have been able to treat are just the tip of the iceberg.”


South Africa: Cape Town's asylum seekers struggle to get documented

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Source: IRIN
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa

CAPE TOWN, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - When Jean Baptiste*, a medical student from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in South Africa in September 2012, he headed straight for Cape Town, where he knew he would be able to stay with his brother. No one at the border told him that it was no longer possible to apply for asylum in Cape Town.

He has since approached the city's Refugee Reception Office (RRO) 18 times to try to secure an asylum seeker permit and become documented, but he has never made it past the security guards outside.

Without documentation, finding even casual work in Cape Town has proved impossible, and without work, he lacks the funds to travel to the cities of Durban, Pretoria or Musina, the three remaining places in South Africa where RROs are still issuing permits to newly arrived asylum seekers. The distance between Cape Town and Pretoria, the nearest RRO where he could apply for asylum, is nearly 1,500km.

"At the moment, I don't have money to go to Pretoria or elsewhere," said Jean Baptiste, whose involvement in a student group opposed to the Congolese government put his life in danger and forced him to flee the country.

Catch-22

"For newcomers, it's a Catch-22 situation," said Anthony Muteti, a community liaison officer with People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP). Together with the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, PASSOP has registered over 1,800 asylum seekers in situations like Jean Baptiste's since Cape Town's RRO moved locations in July 2012 and stopped accepting new asylum seeker applications. It seems likely there are many more who have not been counted.

Last July, soon after the RRO stopped assisting new arrivals, a high court judgement ruled in favour of the Scalabrini Centre's urgent application to force the Department of Home Affairs to resume these services in Cape Town [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95951/SOUTH-AFRICA-Court-orders-Cape-Town... ], pending a full review of the case.

In March of this year, another high court judgement found that the Department's decision to close the Cape Town RRO to newcomers had been unlawful due to a lack of consultation with the Standing Committee on Refugee Affairs or with affected groups. The Department is appealing both the interim court order and the March judgement, which requires it to resume full services to asylum seekers and refugees, including new asylum applicants, by 1 July 2013.

The Scalabrini Centre has not opposed the Department's leave to appeal on the condition that it be heard as soon as possible and that the Cape Town office assist asylum seekers with permits issued at other RROs around the country.

Marlize Ackermann, an advocacy officer with Scalabrini, told IRIN that in recent months, most such individuals have been told they cannot renew their permits in Cape Town, but must return to the office where they originally applied for asylum. Scalabrini has registered over 400 such individuals since January.

"Officially, they're supposed to be assisted, but in reality permit holders are often refused further extensions of permits, and if it is extended, it'll just be a 30 day permit to allow them time to get to Musina or wherever," she said.

For many asylum seekers, especially those with large families or health problems, travelling a minimum of 1,500km every three to six months in order to extend their permits is simply not possible. They have no option but to allow their permits to expire, making them undocumented and liable to arrest and deportation.

Deborah Mbela Momba, a mother of six from DRC, who was separated from her husband when fighting broke out in Goma last November, is facing this predicament as the six-month asylum seeker permits she obtained for herself and her children from the RRO in Musina are about to expire.

With assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Momba travelled from Musina to Cape Town, where she had lived during a previous period of instability in DRC. Now, she and her children are staying with a friend in Mitchell's Plain, and Momba is earning a small income from braiding hair.

"I barely get enough [money] to eat," she told IRIN, speaking tearfully through a translator. "I don't know how I'll find enough to go to Musina."

Fear of arrest

According to Ackerman, the police in Cape Town are aware of the situation and rarely arrest asylum seekers without permits. However, Muteti of PASSOP said Home Affairs officials regularly raid places where foreign nationals are known to live and work, arresting those without documents.

"They're taken to Pollsmoor Prison and kept with violent criminals for up to 30 days," he told IRIN.

Those who avoid arrest, struggle to access healthcare and education for their children, let alone jobs.

"Whenever I try to get piece work, they won't take me cause I don't have documents," said Daniel Munyoro*, 23, from Zimbabwe. He arrived in Cape Town in March and has not been able to apply for asylum there. "It's not even safe to walk around because the police might stop and ask me for papers. My buddy is giving me food and a place to sleep, but he keeps asking me when I'm going to start paying."

Even for those asylum seekers registered in Cape Town, renewing their permits is not a simple matter, said Muteti. "The RRO is scaling down its services, and treatment of foreigners there is appalling. Sometimes you wait all day and don't get served."

He added that asylum seekers are often told to come to the RRO only on the day that their permits are due to expire. If they do not make it to the front of the queue on that day, they become liable for a R2,500 (US$266) fine. "If you can't afford to pay, you become undocumented, which means you'll probably lose your job, the banks will freeze your account and you can be arrested," he said.

RROs to relocate

Asylum seekers in Cape Town are not the only ones struggling to get documented. The Department of Home Affairs has also closed RROs in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province in the last two years, ostensibly because of complaints from local business owners. In both cases, courts have ruled that the closures were unlawful [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94692/SOUTH-AFRICA-Red-tape-ensnares-asyl... ]. The Eastern Cape High Court ordered the Department to re-open the Port Elizabeth RRO to newcomers last February, but so far it has not done so.

On several occasions in the past year, department officials have stated that the closure of RROs in metropolitan areas is in line with a strategy to eventually relocate all RROs to the country's borders. Details have been sketchy, but a December 2012 statement by Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni said the first of these RROs was under construction at the border with Mozambique, in Lebombo, although he did not give a timeframe for when it would be completed.

Refugee rights organizations, such as Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), have been critical of the Department's plan to move RROs to the borders, particularly without having first introduced it as a policy that would have required inputs at the Parliamentary and Cabinet levels as well as extensive public consultation [ http://www.lhr.org.za/publications/policy-shifts-south-african-asylum-sy... ].

Head of LHR's Strategic Litigation Unit, David Cote, said there were fears that the move to the borders would have negative implications for asylum seekers. "We're really concerned that it would create de-facto refugee camps [at the borders]," he told IRIN.

Muteti of PASSOP is among many in South Africa's refugee rights sector who have registered a major shift in the South African government's approach to asylum seeker and refugee protection in recent years. "Being a refugee myself, I've been through the mill," he said. "But there are serious problems affected asylum seekers now."

*Not their real names

ks/rz [END]

Nigeria: Nigeria set for air strikes against Islamists

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Source: Agence France-Presse
Country: Nigeria

05/16/2013 16:47 GMT

by Aminu ABUBAKAR

KANO, Nigeria, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Nigeria's military said Thursday that it was ready to launch air strikes against Boko Haram Islamists as several thousand troops moved to the remote northeast to retake territory seized by the insurgents.

"The entire Nigerian military is involved in this operation, including the air force," defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade told AFP.

"Definitely, air strikes will be used when necessary," he said.

A force of "several thousand" soldiers along with fighter jets and helicopter gunships have been deployed for the offensive in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state, he added.

The operation follows President Goodluck Jonathan's decision to a impose a state of emergency in all three areas as he admitted that Boko Haram had "taken over" territory in the northeast and declared war against the government.

The Islamists, who have said they are fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, have become emboldened and better armed in recent months.

The military spokesman said operations had begun in all three states, but declined to provide specifics.

The operation is the largest against Boko Haram since 2009, when soldiers flooded Borno's capital Maiduguri, killing more than 800 people and forcing the insurgents underground for a year.

A military source who requested anonymity told AFP that Nigerian forces "raided some terrorist camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve," in northern Borno, early on Wednesday.

Zangina Kyarimi, who lives in the remote town of Marti in northern Borno towards the border with Chad, said that "large military teams" arrived late Wednesday.

"I saw dozens of military vans and trucks accompanied by tanks," he said by phone from the town, which is considered a Boko Haram stronghold.

"We are afraid of what might happen in the coming days. We are thinking of leaving," he said.

In Adamawa, a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed, with all residents forced to stay indoors after sundown, the area's military spokesman Lieutenant Ja-afar Mohammed Nuhu told AFP.

In Yobe state in the town of Gashua, scene of a deadly Boko Haram attack on April 26, a convoy of military personnel rolled through heading north to the Niger border, resident Musa Saminu said.

"Some of them went to the banks and asked them to close down as a precaution," he told AFP.

While the military has vowed that the operation will "rid the nation's border territories of terrorist bases," there are doubts as to whether the security forces have the capacity to end the insurgency.

"The military is already overstretched," former US ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell said Wednesday in an article for the Council on Foreign Relations.

The northeastern borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger are porous, with criminal groups and weapons moving freely between countries.

Analysts warn that despite the military buildup, Boko Haram could scatter and find new safe havens.

Many have urged Nigeria to address the social causes fuelling the insurgency, including acute poverty and frustration over excessive government corruption.

Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer, but most of its estimated 160 million people still live on less than two dollars a day.

Nigeria's security forces have been accused of massive rights abuses in campaigns against Boko Haram, which may have amounted to crimes against humanity, according to Human Rights Watch.

The US State Department on Wednesday warned that any "heavy-handed" tactics or disregard for human rights during the emergency operations could damage bilateral relations.

Boko Haram is believed to be led by Abubakar Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States, but the extent of his control is unclear.

Shekau has rejected any form of negotiation with Nigeria's government.

The Boko Haram conflict is estimated to have cost 3,600 lives since 2010, including killings by the security forces.

abu-bs/gd

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

Bangladesh: Cyclone Mahasen: Building site shelters Bangladeshi families

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Source: British Broadcasting Corporation
Country: Bangladesh

Cyclone Mahasen has begun crossing Bangladesh's southern coast, as people pack into evacuation shelters.

Watch the video report on the BBC.

Guinea: Guinée : Les services de santé des armées renforcent leurs capacités de prise en charge des blessés

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Source: ICRC
Country: Guinea

Communiqué de presse 13/89

Genève / Conakry (CICR) – Une cinquantaine de médecins et infirmiers militaires viennent d'achever une formation en chirurgie de guerre organisée par le CICR à l'intention du Service de santé des armées, qui s'est déroulée au centre médicochirurgical des armées du camp Samory Touré de Conakry du 29 avril au 16 mai.

Les participants provenaient de structures militaires de santé de la capitale et des différentes régions du pays. En marge de cette formation, qui avait lieu pour la troisième année consécutive à Conakry, le CICR a également fourni des médicaments essentiels et du matériel médical au Service de santé des armées.

« L'objectif est de renforcer les capacités des services sanitaires des armées en matière de prise en charge des blessés par arme à feu, notamment en cas d'afflux massif », explique le Dr Fabrice Jamet, chirurgien du CICR et formateur. « Les participants ont été formés à des techniques de chirurgie de guerre, ainsi qu'à la prise en charge des blessés au service des urgences. Un exercice pratique basé sur le plan d'urgence du centre médicochirurgical des armées de Conakry a complété la formation », ajoute le Dr Jamet.

Le Dr Koumbassa Mohamed Lamine, médecin à l’hôpital militaire de la capitale guinéenne, souligne : « La formation a notamment permis de comprendre concrètement les différentes étapes de la prise en charge des blessés en chirurgie de guerre. »

Présent en Guinée depuis 1990, le CICR y a ouvert une délégation en 2001. À travers cette délégation, à Conakry, et la sous-délégation de N’Zérékoré, il s’attache à protéger et assister les personnes victimes de situations de violence armée – une de ses activités consistant, notamment, à visiter des personnes détenues en lien avec les violences et à dialoguer avec les autorités carcérales afin d'améliorer les conditions et le traitement des détenus. Par ailleurs, il assure la promotion du droit international humanitaire auprès de divers publics. Enfin, il coopère étroitement avec la Croix-Rouge guinéenne afin qu'elle soit mieux en mesure de répondre aux urgences.

Informations complémentaires :

Jean Jacques Tshamala, CICR Conakry, tél. : + 224 628 40 82 67/ 631 40 82 67
Wolde-Gabriel Saugeron, CICR Genève, tél. : +41 22 730 31 49 ou +41 79 244 64 05

Syrian Arab Republic: IOM Regional Response to the Syria Crisis Situation Report - 16 May 2013

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Source: International Organization for Migration
Country: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey
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HIGHLIGHTS

  • Syria: On 14 May, 5,800 beneficiaries in Damascus and Rural Damascus received Non-Food Items (NFI).
  • Jordan: To date, IOM has facilitated the transportation of 301,214 Syrians from border areas (Thnebe) to Za’atri camp and EJC camp.
  • Iraq: IOM has identified 200 Syrian refugee families and 277 Iraqi returnee families who will receive NFIs through a distribution scheduled for the end of May.
  • Turkey: IOM is in the process of procuring nine containers with built-in washing facilities which will be set up for use by Syrian nationals in Midyat town in Mardin region.
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