Coronavirus – Uganda: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Rwanda: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Eswatini: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Kenya: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Nigeria: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Zambia: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Coronavirus – Zimbabwe: COVID-19 update (February 26, 2021) Visit of the message of unity, peace and solidarity in Mali Innovative Smart Bag Redefines Menstruation Management for Refugee Girls in Uganda UNMISS helps restore calm and stability after recent violence in Koch Football progress in schools tops Benin’s agenda WHO launches first Mass Loss Management (MCM) training in Addis Ababa Coronavirus – Ghana: COVID-19 patients on admission receive WHO dignity kits Coronavirus: Côte d’Ivoire becomes the second African country and the first French-speaking country to receive doses of vaccine via the COVAX Facility UNHCR requests $ 164 million for displaced Central Africans Coronavirus – Uganda: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Coronavirus – Nigeria: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Coronavirus – Malawi: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Coronavirus – Eritrea: Ministry of Health announcement (February 25, 2021) Coronavirus – Ethiopia: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Top PR Professionals, Business Leaders Headline First Edition of Experience Public Relations Coronavirus – South Africa: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) UN forum unveils wonders of artificial intelligence and other sciences, technologies and innovations for Africa Coronavirus – Eswatini: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Coronavirus – Rwanda: COVID-19 update (February 25, 2021) Africa needs pragmatic free market policies to attract capital to gas markets (By NJ Ayuk) Clarke enjoys the Royal Bernard Drome Classic title defense Market volatility and global expansion push INFINOX to half a trillion Equatorial Guinea leads regional gas monetization through Alen Backfill project Coronavirus – Nigeria: Community informants use mobile data collection tools to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance Central African Republic ‘highly unstable’ despite significant progress – UN peacekeeping chief Coronavirus – Eritrea: Ministry of Health announcement (February 24, 2021) Coronavirus – Ethiopia: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) Coronavirus – Malawi: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) FIFA President’s African visits continue Coronavirus – South Africa: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) Coronavirus – Eswatini: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) Coronavirus – Nigeria: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) Coronavirus – Uganda: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) Building greater sustainability, climate resilience in West Africa Local content at the top of Mozambique’s development agenda (By Charné Hundermark) Coronavirus – Rwanda: COVID-19 update (February 24, 2021) West African countries step up Ebola preparedness Angola’s 65-year oil history has been good for Angola despite some challenges (by Andres Vega) African football at a crucial stage with the polls of the African Football Confederation (CAF) looming Reunion for Campenaerts at the Belgian “Opening Weekend” Manchester United announces partnership with StarTimes to bring MUTV to Africa Hennessy Becomes First Global Spirits Partner of the NBA Canon launches EOS M50 Mark II as social content creation continues to soar Progress in women’s football highlighted at meetings in Morocco
"UNHCR News"
- APO2 days ago
UNHCR requests $ 164 million for displaced Central Africans
UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, today appealed for $ 164 million to provide life-saving assistance and protection to nearly 1.5 million uprooted Central Africans, including 210,000 who have fled a new wave of violence linked to the presidential elections of December 2020. With no end in sight to the violence fueling the displacement crisis, almost a third of the 4.7 million inhabitants of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been forced to leave. to run away. Since the new crisis erupted, some 100,000 people have been internally displaced in the CAR, while neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo have welcomed 111,000 new arrivals. Refugees continue to cross every day. Many new arrivals report serious human rights violations in the CAR. Our colleagues in Gore, Chad, care for a 26-year-old refugee mother who was beaten and raped by a rebel with her six-month-old.
- APO4 days ago
Thousands of Ethiopians seek asylum in Sudan’s Blue Nile state
Several thousand people fleeing escalating violence in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region have sought refuge in Blue Nile state in Sudan over the past month. Tensions have been high in the Metekel area since 2019 with several reports of inter-municipal attacks in the region. The situation has worsened rapidly over the past three months. The Ethiopian federal government declared a state of emergency in the region on January 21, 2021. UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, is working closely with Sudanese authorities and partners to assess the situation and respond to the humanitarian needs of the new arrivals, many of whom have arrived in hard-to-reach places along from the border. Benishangul Gumuz is found in W Ethiopia. The current displacement is not directly linked to the conflict in the northern Tigray region, which has caused more than 61,000 people to seek refuge in Sudan in recent months. Of the estimated 7,000.
- APO2 weeks ago
UNHCR alarmed by armed atrocities in eastern DRC
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is alarmed by the ongoing atrocities carried out by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which have become part of a systematic pattern to disrupt the civilians lives, instill fear and create havoc. In 2020, UNHCR partners recorded a record of more than 2,000 civilian deaths in the three eastern provinces (1,240 in Ituri, 590 in North Kivu and 261 in South Kivu). Most of these attacks were attributed to armed groups. Killings and kidnappings continued in North Kivu in 2021, where attacks have also targeted displaced civilians. On 24 January, an armed group killed two men and seriously wounded six others in a raid on a site for forcibly displaced persons in the Masisi Territory of North Kivu. A week before the recent attack, three people living in the Kivuye displaced persons site in Masisi territory, which is supported.
- APO2 weeks ago
UNHCR calls for access as displacement from Central Africa increases
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, calls for humanitarian access to reach tens of thousands of people in dire need after they fled escalating violence, clashes and military operations in the Central African Republic ( CAR), a country where almost a third of the population is now forcibly displaced. Increased attacks on humanitarian workers and the blocking of key supply routes are hampering the ability of UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations to assist internally displaced Central Africans. The humanitarian situation has deteriorated, increasing the suffering of an already vulnerable population. Humanitarians have been attacked and their offices and stolen vehicles looted. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 66 such incidents occurred in January, the highest number ever recorded in a single month in the Central African Republic. In December 2020, a humanitarian worker died and five others were injured. Clashes, military operations and blockades.
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Foreign4 weeks agoUN worries about humanitarian situation in Tigray ahead of Security Council meeting
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern in a statement Tuesday about the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying “urgent steps” must be taken. The Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss the topic, according to diplomats. Ireland, Estonia, France, Norway, Britain and the United States requested the closed-door meeting, the diplomats said. x “The Secretary-General remains seriously concerned over the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” Guterres’s statement said Tuesday. He emphasized the need for the partnership between the Ethiopian government and the UN to alleviate civilian suffering. Guterres called for “continued urgent steps to alleviate the humanitarian situation and extend the necessary protections to those at risk.” x The UN chief also welcomed Ethiopia’s positive reception of recent visits by the high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi, undersecretary-general for security and safety Gilles Michaud and the executive director of the World Food Program, David Beasley. Two.
- Foreign1 month ago
UNHCR discloses funding gap to meet needs of refugees, IDPs in Ethiopia
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday disclosed it only received 39 percent of the 385.1 million United States dollars it needs to meet the needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in Ethiopia. The UNHCR in its monthly fact sheet said it’s working to meet the needs of refugees and IDPs despite the funding gap and incidence of armed conflicts in some of the areas it operates. “The UNHCR continues to respond to the situation of IDPs in Ethiopia, leading the Protection Cluster and providing protection, emergency aid and other support to IDPs and IDP returnees, including those displaced by recent flooding and conflict,” said the UNHCR monthly fact sheet. The UNHCR said despite the funding constraints, it’s currently engaged in the training of health personnel as well as the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and essential medicines and materials to strengthen health services.
- Foreign1 month ago
More than 58,000 Ethiopian refugees flee into Sudan: UN
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Sunday said that more than 58,000 Ethiopian refugees fled into neighboring Sudan amid military confrontation in Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray region. A total of 58,612 Ethiopian refugees have been registered in Sudan since military confrontations between the federal and regional forces in the Tigray region broke out in November 2020, the agency said in its latest situation update. According to the UNHCR, in a bid to mitigate “potential health and security risks,” the UN body has been working with partners to relocate refugees to camps away from the border, and 26,864 refugees have been moved to the designated refugee camps. The Ethiopian government is presently providing protection to nearly 1 million refugees mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan, who are being hosted across 26 camps and non-camp locations. (XINHUA)
- APO1 month ago
Number of Central African refugees soars as violence intensifies
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling for the immediate end to all violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) as nearly 60,000 people have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries since December, a two-fold rise in just one week. Most have fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), across the Ubangui River, where the number of arrivals topped 50,000 after 10,000 Central African refugees arrived in a single day on 13 January. Some 58,000 people are still displaced inside CAR’s affected regions, according to the Population Movement Commissions, and nearly 9,000 refugees have arrived in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo this past month. UNHCR commends neighbouring governments for continuing to grant Central African refugees access to territory and asylum despite border restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. UNHCR and partners in CAR are gathering reports of abuses by armed groups, including.
- APO1 month ago
Statement attributable to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on the situation of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
I remain extremely troubled by the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and its impact on civilians, in particular Eritrean refugees hosted in the region. We have recently seen some positive developments, working with the government to access and assist vulnerable populations, including the transport and distribution of food to some 25,000 Eritrean refugees in the Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps in Tigray. Last week UNHCR and partners carried out a rapid assessment mission at the two camps with the Ethiopian Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs and have been able to start restoring the water supply and limited health services. We hope that soon we will be able to re-establish full protection and other humanitarian activities. However, in spite of repeated requests, UNHCR and partners have not yet had any access to the Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps since the start of the law and order.
- APO2 months ago
UNHCR relocates first Ethiopian refugees to a new site in Sudan
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, continues to register new refugee arrivals at the Sudanese-Ethiopian border. Some 800 people crossed from Ethiopia’s Tigray region into eastern Sudan in just the first few days of the new year. Since early November, more than 56,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled to neighbouring Sudan. Latest arrivals tell of being caught in the conflict and being victims of various armed groups, facing perilous situations including looting of their houses, forceful recruitment of men and boys, sexual violence against women and girls. Refugees are arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs, fatigued and in weak conditions after sometimes days of travel. More than 30 per cent of them are estimated to be under 18 and 5 per cent over 60 years old. In support of the government-led response in Sudan, UNHCR and Sudan’s Commission for Refugees (COR) continue to relocate the refugees from the.
- APO2 months ago
UNHCR outraged at killing of 100 civilians in Niger attacks, hundreds flee on foot
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, condemns in the strongest terms the twin attacks in western Niger that killed at least 100 people, injured 25 others, and forced hundreds to flee on 2 January. Armed groups mounted coordinated attacks on the villages of Tchamo-Bangou and Zaroumdareye, in Niger’s Tillaberi region near the border with Mali. Some of the injured were evacuated to Ouallam and Niamey, 80 and 120 kilometres away respectively. “We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of these outrageous attacks on peaceful communities,” said UNHCR’s Representative in Niger, Alessandra Morelli. “Communities which are now torn apart by brutality and forced to flee in a region where tens of thousands of people displaced by violence are hosted and hoping to rebuild their lives.” According to local sources, the survivors of the attacks and the population of four other neighbouring villages have fled. At least 1,000 people.
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AMA3 months agoEthiopia: UN concern mounts over shortages, child welfare, in ongoing Tigray crisis
Fighting between the national army and regional forces began a month ago, and since then, many people have been living with no electricity, running water, banking or communications. “OCHA has raised concerns regarding the lack of essential medical supplies, which is hampering healthcare workers’ ability to support the population and disrupt critical services, including for women who are pregnant or giving birth”, said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, speaking in New York. Child protection fears mount Meanwhile, two senior UN officials have expressed deep concern over the situation of children caught in the ongoing crisis. Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Dr. Najat Maalla Mjid, the UN chief’s Special Representative on Violence against Children, issued a joint statement on Tuesday. They urged all sides “to do everything possible to better protect children and all civilians, uphold human rights and ensure humanitarian access for the provision of much-needed assistance.” .
- AMA3 months ago
Ethiopian Government and UN strike deal for ‘unimpeded’ humanitarian access in Tigray
Confirming details of the deal at UN Headquarters in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the safe passage of aid supplies and staff also extends to the Ethiopian regions of Amhara and Afar, bordering Tigray, where fighting between federal and regional forces, has impacted around six million people during the past month. Until now, no supplies have been allowed into the conflict zone, which has displaced thousands, many across the border into Sudan. UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) spokesperson based in Nairobi, Saviano Abreu, told local reporters earlier that the first mission to carry out a needs assessment would begin on Wednesday. He added that the UN was committed to engaging with “all parties to the conflict” and ensuring that aid was distributed “strictly based on needs”. ‘Globally agreed principles’ Mr. Dujarric said that all aid distribution would be carried out “in compliance with the globally-agreed principles of humanity, impartiality, independence.
- AMA3 months ago
Mali: COVID-19 and conflict lead to rise in child trafficking
Some 230 cases of child recruitment were reported during the first half of the year, compared with 215 cases for the whole of 2019, according to a UNHCR-backed study. Armed groups are also trafficking children to work in gold mines, with the profits being used to fuel the arms trade and finance violence, the agency added. Meanwhile, adults operating in the mines are subjected to extortionate “taxes”. Worst forms of abuse “As a result of conflict and socio-economic deterioration worsened by the pandemic, we are seeing some of the most egregious human rights violations in the Sahel,” said Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection. “Children are being forced to fight by armed groups, trafficked, raped, sold, forced into sexual or domestic servitude, or married off. Many more children are at risk in the Sahel, a region which is becoming the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in the world.” Overall, an estimated.
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AMA3 months agoTanzania: Burundian Refugees ‘Disappeared,’ Tortured
Tanzanian authorities have gravely abused at least 18 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers since late 2019. The whereabouts of several who were forcibly disappeared remain unknown, and additional Burundians may have suffered similar abuse. Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye (left) and Tanzanian President John Magufuli meet in Kigoma, in northwestern Tanzania, on September 19, 2020. It was Ndayishimiye’s first foreign visit since his election in May 2020. © 2020 SOS Médias Burundi Between October 2019 and August 2020, Tanzanian police and intelligence services forcibly disappeared, tortured, and arbitrarily detained at least 11 Burundians for up to several weeks in abysmal conditions in a police station in Kibondo, Kigoma region. Three were released in Tanzania, and Tanzanian authorities forcibly returned the other eight to Burundi in August, where they have been detained without charge. Tanzanian police have arrested and forcibly disappeared seven other refugees and asylum seekers since January 2020. The arrests occurred in Mtendeli and.
- General news3 months ago
Ethiopian PM Abiy meets AU Mediation team11
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, on Friday reiterated the federal government’s commitment to the protection and security of civilians in the ongoing fighting between the National Defence Forces and the regional Tigray People’s Liberation Force (TPLF). He was speaking to members of an African Union Mission, in Ethiopia to mediate in the fighting, about the establishment of a high-level committee of federal stakeholders to access and respond to essential humanitarian needs of citizens in the Tigray region. He also briefed the mission on the identification and humanitarian assistance routes for the provision of necessary relief materials to citizens in the region coordinated through the Ministry of Peace and in collaboration with UN agencies. The AU Mission, sent by AU chairman South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, includes three former heads of state – Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa. He said the.
- General news3 months ago
Sudanese PM vows to protect Ethiopian refugees streaming into Sudan
Refugees Khartoum, Nov. 28, 2020 The head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) visited some refugee camps near the Sudanese borders with Ethiopia where over 43,000 Ethiopians fleeing from fighting in their homeland have arrived in Sudan, saying urgent assistance is needed for the refugees, most of whom are children “I am in Sudan and visiting areas near the Ethiopian border, where 43,000 refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray region have arrived so far,.” said UNHCR Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, shortly after landing in Kasala, one of the areas hosing the Ethiopian refugees. “Sudan once again is showing its traditional hospitality to people in need — and urgently requires international assistance to support its efforts,” the UN High Commissioner, Mr Grandi, tweeted on Friday. Meanwhile, the UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, told the international media at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi,.
- Foreign3 months ago
Ethiopian gov’t says Federal forces making progress in Tigray Regional fighting
The Ethiopian government says the National Defence Force has been making progress in its military action against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the restive Tigray Regional State. The Ethiopian National Defence Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Birhanu Jula, told journalists in Addis Ababa on Wednesday that the army, which started its operation in the western front, has taken control of Dansha, Baeker, Maikadar “within a short time” and entered Kafta Humera. There is no independent confirmation of the claims. The National Defence Force started marching on the capital of the Tigray region, Mekelle, on Tuesday after a deadline for rebel forces to surrender passed. The state-owned Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted Gen. Jula as saying the army has also taken control of Sheraro via Adi Goshu and Adi Nibreid as well as Gozomon. “And after a major operation conducted by the army on Tuesday, it captured Shirie as.
- Foreign3 months ago
UNHCR warns ‘full-scale humanitarian crisis’ will follow Ethiopia’s Tigray fighting
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has warned that a full-scale humanitarian crisis will unfold as thousands of refugees flee current fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region each day to seek safety in eastern Sudan – an influx unseen over the last two decades in this part of the country. UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, said at a press briefing on Tuesday in Geneva that women, men and children have been crossing the border at the rate of 4,000 per day since 10 November, “rapidly overwhelming the humanitarian response capacity on the ground”. More than 27,000 have now crossed into Sudan through the Hamdayet border in Kassala State, the Lugdi in Gedaref State and a new location further south at Aderafi border where Ethiopian refugees started crossing over the weekend. Baloch said refugees fleeing the fighting continue to arrive exhausted from the long trek to safety, with few belongings. UNHCR, with its partners,.
- Foreign3 months ago
77 illegal migrants rescued off Libyan coast- UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said that 77 illegal migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast. “We reiterate that Libya is not a safe port to return refugees and migrants to,’’ UNHCR said. Because of insecurity and chaos that followed the fall of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has become a preferred point of departure for thousands of illegal migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than 11,000 illegal migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2020. The IOM also said that hundreds of illegal migrants have died and hundreds of others have gone missing on the Central Mediterranean route so far this year. Thousands of illegal migrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by the authorities, remain detained inside overcrowded reception centers, despite.
