Nouvelles page% - Demokratiezentrum für Transparenz

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

Page 2 of 5 Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next

\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$ French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
\u201cJust two days ago, I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. These aren\u2019t just numbers. These are real people. And we are headed straight toward the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on earth in many places in Yemen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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\n
On Yemen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust two days ago, I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. These aren\u2019t just numbers. These are real people. And we are headed straight toward the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on earth in many places in Yemen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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NEW YORK \u2013 The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed the United Nations Security Council today on Yemen, conflict and food insecurity. Here are selected highlights from his remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Yemen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust two days ago, I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. These aren\u2019t just numbers. These are real people. And we are headed straight toward the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on earth in many places in Yemen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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$\"Photo:$
Photo: WFP\/ Mohammed Awadh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK \u2013 The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed the United Nations Security Council today on Yemen, conflict and food insecurity. Here are selected highlights from his remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Yemen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust two days ago, I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. These aren\u2019t just numbers. These are real people. And we are headed straight toward the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on earth in many places in Yemen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                              #                             #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"$
Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
#                     #                          #<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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originally published:<\/em> 11 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/yemen-heading-toward-biggest-famine-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Photo:$
Photo: WFP\/ Mohammed Awadh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK \u2013 The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed the United Nations Security Council today on Yemen, conflict and food insecurity. Here are selected highlights from his remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Yemen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust two days ago, I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. These aren\u2019t just numbers. These are real people. And we are headed straight toward the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on earth in many places in Yemen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we\u2019re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals only have electricity in their intensive care units because fuel reserves are so low. I know this first-hand because I\u2019ve walked in the hospital. And the lights were off. The electricity was off. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On conflict and hunger:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict, and they are entirely preventable\u2026 The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass. But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in the future, desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: just in 2019 $14.5 trillion dollars a year \u2013 15 percent of global GDP. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations \u2013 and help lay new pathways to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full transcript<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video footage<\/a><\/strong> from Yemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Yemen is heading toward the biggest famine in modern history, WFP Chief warns UN Security Council","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"yemen-is-heading-toward-the-biggest-famine-in-modern-history-wfp-chief-warns-un-security-council","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5444","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5434,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-13 21:12:17","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 29 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/news\/southern-madagascar-brink-famine-warns-wfp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Photo: WFP\/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR \u2013 The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scale of the catastrophe is beyond belief. If we don\u2019t reverse this crisis, if we don\u2019t get food to the people in the south of Madagascar, families will starve and lives will be lost,\u201d said WFP\u2019s Senior Director of Operations, Amer Daoudi who today visited one of the worst affected areas, Sihanamaro, accompanied by a high-level delegation of ambassadors and senior government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have witnessed heart-breaking scenes of severely malnourished children and starving families. We need the money and resources now to help the people of Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consecutive years of drought in the South have left at least 1.35 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance. The situation has been critical since September 2020, the start of the lean season when families had already depleted their food supplies and eaten their vital seed stocks, leaving nothing for the November\/December 2020 planting season. Currently, up to 80% of the population in certain areas in the south is resorting to desperate survival measures such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 harvest prospects are poor, with the failure of the rains during the last planting season indicating another failed harvest and as a result a longer tougher lean season (from October 2021 to March 2022). Food production in 2021 is expected to be less than 40 percent of the last five-year average, making it harder for communities on the brink of survival to feed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-arid conditions in southern Madagascar, combined with high levels of soil erosion, deforestation and unprecedented drastic sandstorms, have covered croplands and pasture with sand and transformed arable land into wasteland across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please find images of the situation in southern Madagascar here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world\u2019s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media<\/p>\n","post_title":"Southern Madagascar on brink of famine, warns WFP","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"southern-madagascar-on-brink-of-famine-warns-wfp","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5434","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5387,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/unocha.exposure.co\/a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Migrants and Refugees in Yemen<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The road from Ras al-Ara to the port city of Aden, in southern Yemen, runs for almost 90 miles through barren, windswept desert. The landscape is scorched by the sun, and temperatures often teeter around 40\u00b0C. Reminders of Yemen\u2019s complex six-year-old war abound: burned-out tanks litter the roadways and stern fighters man checkpoints. Occasionally, along the road, you\u2019ll see small clusters of people\u2014mainly young men\u2014making the arduous trek towards some dimly glimpsed point on the horizon, often carrying only a bottle of water and wearing only flip-flops on their feet. $\"Two$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Ethiopian men, aged 15 and 17, walk the long road towards Aden from Ras-al-Ara, some 150 km to the east. They arrived a week earlier from Djibouti by smuggler boat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
These lonely figures in the burning desert are some of the tens of thousands of East African migrants and refugees \u2014 mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia \u2014 who head north, braving the dangers of war-torn Yemen in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia. They are part of \u201cone of the great unseen humanitarian crises of our era,\u201d as an international aid worker in Aden put it recently. They have arrived in rickety, overcrowded dhows from smuggling ports in Djibouti and Somalia, yet they count themselves the lucky ones. That\u2019s because they have often seen their fellow travellers dead of thirst in the deserts of East Africa, and because many of the boats sink in the choppy, shark-infested waters of the straits that lie between Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, there were 274 recorded deaths on such dhows, but without proper registration and tracking that number is surely much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ras al-Ara is a small windswept town known for its fishing and for its smugglers. Many boats transporting migrants and refugees land there because of its proximity to the Djiboutian coast. Recently, just outside town, two slender young men from central Ethiopia in red T-shirts, both named Mohamed, were ambling along the cracked tarmac, seemingly stunned by the blaring sun. Around 60 migrants had arrived in the last few days, according to a worker for the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). One of the young men was 17 and the other 18. They were both from Oromia, a region that UNICEF says has the highest number of children living in poverty in Ethiopia, and they were both hungry. (According to IOM monitoring, the vast majority of migrants on this route are Oromo.) An IOM mobile team, tasked with providing emergency and medical support to people along the way, stopped to give them food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the two men finished the water and high-energy biscuits provided by the mobile team, they began to tell their stories. They had both been in high school in central Ethiopia, but their school had closed because of the increasing tensions between different ethnic groups in their town, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Mohameds were friends, and they decided to leave when an older man told them they could find work abroad. He introduced them to a smuggler, who agreed to take them through Djibouti and across the sea to Yemen. They said it was unclear to them where they would find work, but they\u2019d heard that work was abundant in Yemen. (According to IOM, the vast majority of migrants hope to go to Saudi Arabia.) They did not understand that the country was in the middle of a civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elder Mohamed started to tell the story of their first week in Yemen. Six days beforehand, after a sea journey that lasted around 12 hours, their boat landed just before dawn on the shore nearby. \u201cWe arrived on the boat, and immediately we were surrounded by men with guns,\u201d he said. \u201cThey demanded money and held us until we paid. Of the 60 who arrived, 54 are now free. There are still six people being held by them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, migrants like the two Mohameds face kidnap, torture, detention and abuse by smugglers, armed groups and criminal gangs, who try to extort their already impoverished families. Kidnappers will get their captives to call their families and funnel more to their facilities, from where they promise to spirit the migrants to Saudi Arabia, but where they actually extort them for every penny they can find. $\"A$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young Ethiopian man on a notorious smugglers\u2019 beach on Yemen\u2019s remote southern coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe smugglers gave us mobile telephones to call our families, and they told us to transfer money to them,\u201d said the older Mohamed. \u201cDuring the time, they beat us, using long sticks\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2014and the butts of their rifles,\u201d added the younger Mohamed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were just being beaten, and there was nothing to think about except the beatings,\u201d the elder Mohamed continued. \u201cWe spent every day there fearing death.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
$\"East$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
East African men gather at a former football stadium in Aden. The stadium now serves as a well-known meeting place for migrants and refugees who are making their way through Yemen towards Saudi Arabia and beyond.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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A local OCHA staff member meets with migrants and refugees at a former football stadium in Aden. Many tell stories of kidnapping, extortion and prolonged imprisonment.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Yemeni kidnappers demanded that their captives paid them 600 Ethiopian birr (around US$15). According to IOM, they were lucky: some migrants get extorted for more than $1,000. It took the young men\u2019s families about six days to gather the money and transfer it to Yemen. \u201cWhen they received the money, they released us, each by name,\u201d the elder Mohamed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, they were both continuing on. Where to, they didn\u2019t know exactly, but they would try Aden and then head north. What about the front line? The war? \u201cEh, we are not scared,\u201d one of them said. \u201cAfter what we have just been through, we might die but we cannot be scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Migrants and refugees next to a former football stadium in Aden.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the suffering of East African migrants in Yemen briefly made headlines after a migrant detention centre, run by the authorities in Sana\u2019a, was set ablaze. The centre can accommodate only 300 people, but at that time it held a staggering 900 people. Around 350 migrants were crammed into close, jail-like conditions in a hangar area, and they began protesting their treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a special team called in by the regular guards fired three tear gas canisters into the centre, it caught alight. The detainees were trapped. At least 45 migrants died and more than 200 were injured. One migrant told Human Rights Watch that he saw his fellow inmates \u201croasted alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With conditions so bad in Yemen, it\u2019s worth asking why so many migrants and refugees brave the journey. An answer lies in economics\u2014a recent IOM study found<\/a> that many migrants made just over $60 a month at home, whereas their counterparts could earn more than $450 working menial jobs in Saudi Arabia. \u201cThere\u2019s no work, no money in Ethiopia,\u201d said one of the Mohameds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is the risk worth it? Some migrants don\u2019t understand the risks they are undertaking, at least when they set off from Ethiopia. The recent IOM study found that only 30 per cent of Ethiopian migrants surveyed arriving in Djibouti knew that there was a war in Yemen. In smuggling ports in Djibouti and elsewhere, IOM-led sensitization and return programmes try to ensure that before the migrants board the boats to Yemen, they do understand the dangers they will face as they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after sensitization, and the realization that there is a civil war in Yemen, migrants still decide to make the journey. Some are assured by smugglers at home that everything will be taken care of\u2014only to end up kidnapped or stuck at the Saudi border; some mistakenly believe that the instability will allow them to cross Yemen with greater ease; and others merely assume the risk. As one migrant recently put it: \u201cWe are already living in death in Ethiopia.\u201d $\"Boots$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boots outside a tent in a settlement on the outskirts of Marib in central Yemen. Well-made boots are an expensive and precious commodity for most migrants and refugees.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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A Government-supported settlement in Marib City. To qualify for free tents and water, these migrants work as street sweepers in the city as well as receiving a nominal sum from city officials. Many migrants are travelling through Yemen and heading for Saudi Arabia, where work opportunities can be better.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the best answer to the question of why people decide to make such a perilous journey comes from history. Human beings have travelled along this route since the days of mankind\u2019s earliest journeys. It is most probably the path over which, 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa and went on to populate the world. People probably always will find a way to continue migrating along this path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference now is that for the past few years, many more people are deciding to make the trip because of the dire economic situation in the region, which is fuelled by drought and war. According to IOM, the number of people making the trip almost doubled between 2014 and 2019. Two years ago, 138,000 irregular migrants travelled from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and even though pandemic-related concerns deterred a number of people from making the trip in 2020, some 37,500 migrants still landed in Yemen last year. More than 32,000 migrants are believed to be currently trapped in Yemen. IOM\u2019s programme to voluntarily return people who have become stuck on the migrant trail has also been stymied by border closures. The result is an intensifying and largely invisible humanitarian crisis in a country fraught with crises\u2014at least 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, and 17 million are at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sitting on a low wall, East African men wait to be checked by an IOM mobile medical team after having just arrived from northern Africa by smuggler boats.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The dearth of funding for the UN\u2019s Yemen response threatens the already limited essential services IOM is able to provide for these people. \u201cMigrants are among the most vulnerable people in Yemen, with the least amount of support,\u201d said Olivia Headon, IOM Yemen\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThis isn\u2019t surprising, given the scale of the crisis and the sheer level of needs across Yemen, but more support is needed for this group. It\u2019s really concerning that we have over 32,000 stranded migrants across the country without access to the most basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near Ras al-Ara, the IOM mobile team set up a clinic to tend to migrants. The migrants can be stuck in the region for months\u2014on rare occasions even years\u2014as they try to work odd jobs and move onwards. \u201cWhen migrants arrive in Yemen, they\u2019re usually extremely tired and in need of emergency medical care,\u201d said Headon. \u201cMobile teams travel around where migrants arrive and provide this care. The teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other health workers as well as translators, because it\u2019s vitally important that the migrants and the doctors there can communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasser Musab, a doctor with IOM\u2019s Migrant Response Point in Aden, said that migrants \u201csuffer in Ras al-Ara.\u201d He continued: \u201cThere are so many smugglers in Ras al-Ara\u2014you can\u2019t imagine what they do to the migrants, hitting them, abusing them, so we do what we can to help them.\u201d Women, he said, are the most vulnerable; the IOM teams try to provide protection support to those who need it. $\"An$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ethiopian migrant lies on a gurney used by IOM mobile doctors to check people who have recently arrived.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Around 16 per cent of migrants recorded on this route in the last three months were women (11 per cent are children and the rest are men). \u201cWomen are more vulnerable to being trafficked and also experiencing abuse in general, including sexual abuse and exploitation,\u201d said Headon. She explained that, unlike men, women often were not able to pay the full cost of the journey upfront. \u201cThey are in debt by the time they get to their destination. And this situation feeds into trafficking, because there\u2019s this ongoing relationship between the trafficker and the victim, and there is exploitation there and an explicit expectation that they\u2019ll pay off their debts.\u201d She said that with COVID-19, more migrants have been stuck in Yemen, and women have been trapped in situations of indentured servitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of funding shortfalls, the invaluable work of providing food, medical assistance and protection support falls to the same IOM response teams. \u201cWe distribute water, dates, biscuits,\u201d said Musab, \u201cbut the main job of the medical teams is to provide medical care.\u201d He said that some cases can be treated locally, but some injuries and illnesses require them to be transferred to hospitals in Aden. During the pandemic, medical workers have also been on the front lines of checking for symptoms of the virus among recently arrived migrants. (Contrary to some xenophobic propaganda distributed in Yemen, confirmed cases among migrants have been very low.) $\"The$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201aGod Halp Me\u2018 tattooed on the arm of a young East African man at a shelter in Aden, on Yemen\u2019s south coast.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ahmad, a farmer in his forties from Ethiopia\u2019s Oromia region, was one of the migrants who came to Musab\u2019s team for a check-up. This is his second time travelling from East Africa to Saudi Arabia, where he lived twice before the police deported him back to Ethiopia. (Deportations and repatriations of East African migrants have occasionally occurred from Yemen, and more systematically from Saudi Arabia, although these depend upon the wax and wane of bilateral relations between host nations and the migrants\u2019 countries of origin.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why had he decided to make the journey again? \u201cIn Ethiopia there\u2019s no money,\u201d he said, repeating the common refrain. \u201cIn Saudi there\u2019s a lot of money and you can earn a lot of money,\u201d Ahmad continued, saying he has four children to provide for back in Ethiopia. \u201cI only want for my family to live in peace, to make enough money for my family.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his first trip, in the early 2000s, Ahmad travelled from Ethiopia through Somalia to get a boat to Yemen and then walked 24 days to the southern Saudi city of Jazan. He was deported to Yemen after six months but was able to enter again, staying there for about 15 years and working on a farm before he was apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2020, Ahmad decided to make the trip to Saudi Arabia again, but this time his journey was curtailed around Ras al-Ara because of COVID-19 restrictions and local checkpoints. \u201cTo survive, I\u2019ve worked here as a fisherman, maybe one or two days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I\u2019m trapped here. I\u2019ve been stuck here for eight months in this desert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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IOM mobile teams perform health checks on recently arrived East African migrants and refugees. Most arrive in the early morning after leaving the north African coast the night before.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Some East African migrants and refugees have been trapped in Yemen for much longer. Since Somalia descended into civil war in 1991, refugees have lived in Aden\u2019s Basateen sector. Sometimes locals call it Somal<\/em>, the Arabic word for Somalia, because so many Somalis live there. People who make the journey from Somalia are automatically considered refugees when they arrive in Yemen. Among them there are those who insist they are better off than they could ever be in their own country despite the ongoing war in Yemen and its privations (of water, health care and safety). IOM and UNHCR run clinics in the area to provide emergency care to migrants and refugees respectively, but with funding for humanitarian assistance running low, not everyone can be provided for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saida, a 30-year-old mother of three from Mogadishu, recently visited a UNHCR-sponsored clinic in Basateen so that a nurse could check up on her children. She wore a jet-black hijab<\/em> and cradled her youngest, a seven-month-old named Mahad. She said the clinic is essential for the health of her young children. Two of them\u2014twins named Amir and Amira\u2014suffered from severe acute malnutrition, she explained, and the clinic provides essential support to her and nutrition for her children. \u201cI came here to provide a better life for my children; in Somalia we were very hungry and very poor,\u201d Saida explained. She was pregnant with Mahad when she took the boat from Somalia eight months ago, and she gave birth to him as a refugee in Yemen. $\"Women$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women and children in the Al-Basateen neighbourhood. The area is home to the majority of Aden\u2019s refugees, many of whom are from Somalia.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Somalia, Saida was constantly afraid of violence. Aden, which has been relatively peaceful since she arrived, seems like a relatively safe place to her. \u201cThe war is much worse in Somalia,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel safer in Yemen. I\u2019m saving my life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinary Yemenis, for their part, often feel a duty to help migrants and refugees, despite the privations of war\u2014Headon explained that people leave out tanks of water for the migrants traversing the deserts of south Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Saida says, she cannot find regular work and she relies on UNHCR\u2019s services to keep her children alive. \u201cThe community health volunteers have helped me a lot. They have helped me take care of my children and put me in touch with specialists, and they taught me how to continue with the treatments,\u201d Saida continued. \u201cThey also taught me how to identify signs of my children relapsing into sickness or having contracted other diseases. Now, thanks be to God, everything is going well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Doctors attend to patients at a UNHCR-supported free primary health-care facility in Aden\u2019s Al-Basateen neighbourhood.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, some migrants have settled too, carving out careers of sorts for themselves on the fishing dhows and on long sea journeys transporting people like themselves. On a beach dotted with anchored boats the afternoon after the two Mohameds were freed, a young Yemeni man in a sarong was distributing fistfuls of cash to migrants sitting on the ground. At first, the man claimed that the money was payment for work on the boats, but then he suggested that, in fact, the labourers had been working on a farm. It was unclear why they were being paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men who sat around him in a circle were mainly African migrants, and they waited shouting and jostling before quietening down, as each man got up, explained to the young man what work he had done and received his money. \u201cI fished more than he did,\u201d one shouted. \u201cWhy are you giving him more money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first to get up was Faisal, a 46-year-old Somali man with a pronounced swagger and cracked teeth, his head wrapped in a white turban. He paid around $200 to come to Yemen from Somalia\u2019s Puntland region in 2010, and he has lived in Ras al-Ara for the past seven years. He had worked as a soldier in Puntland, but then he feuded with his brother, lost his job and was forced to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ras al-Ara, Faisal works odd jobs to get by. On good days he makes just under $20. \u201cSometimes I work as a fisherman and sometimes I travel to Somalia on a boat to get other Somalis and bring them here.\u201d When he wants to find work, he\u2019ll come to the beach in the evening, wait with other casual labourers, and then fishing captains or smugglers will come and hire him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Headon pointed out that the boats are often packed full to increase smuggling profits and that the smugglers often force people from the boats. Usually, Faisal said, there are about 120 people in each 15-metre dhow. \u201cThey\u2019re overcrowded, and they often sink and many people drown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faisal said that the Yemenis had been very accommodating to him. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a homeland, Yemen now,\u201d he said. Still, he wants most of all to return home once he has saved some money. (IOM and UNHCR run a return programme for Somali refugees, but it has been on hold since the pandemic began.) \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t like it here,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dream is to return to my country. If I had money, I\u2019d go back to my country directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"A Great Unseen Humanitarian Crisis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"a-great-unseen-humanitarian-crisis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5387","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5397,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_date_gmt":"2021-06-06 19:59:00","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 04 June 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-57347876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Soldiers$
French troops are part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
France is halting joint military operations with Mali over last week\u2019s coup in the West African country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the suspension would continue until it received guarantees about a return to civilian rule in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso to fight militants in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 25 May Mali\u2019s military strongman, Col Assimi Go\u00efta, ousted the country\u2019s civilian president and prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Gardner: Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa<\/a><\/li>
Macron\u2019s blunt style may harm bid for new African chapter<\/a><\/li>
How to solve Mali\u2019s coup conundrum<\/a><\/li>
Are coups on the rise in Africa?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This week the West African grouping Ecowas and the African Union (AU) suspended Mali from their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday France\u2019s armed forces ministry said that both Ecowas and the AU had set \u201ethe framework for the political transition in Mali\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added: \u201eWhile awaiting these guarantees, France has decided to suspend, as a temporary measure, joint military operations with Malian forces.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops will continue to operate there independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Colonel$
Colonel Go\u00efta has led two coups in the last nine months<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What is happening in Mali?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coup leader Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta was named transitional president by the constitutional court last Friday \u2013 two days after he declared himself the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col Go\u00efta said he was not consulted about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also led the coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta forced out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Go\u00efta has now promised that a new prime minister will be appointed within days, and that elections will still go ahead next year as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is Mali so unstable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mali is a vast, landlocked former French colony, and large areas are poor and underdeveloped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A coup in 2012 led to militant Islamists exploiting the chaos and seizing the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French troops helped regain territory, but attacks have continued as the insurgents have capitalised on the persistent political instability in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has all led to public confidence waning over the army leaders\u2018 ability to tackle the Islamist insurgency that has spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n","post_title":"France suspends military ties with Mali over coup","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"france-suspends-military-ties-with-mali-over-coup","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5397","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":5359,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-30 21:15:49","post_content":"\n
originally published:<\/em> 25 May 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/exclusive-un-tribunal-lebanon-runs-out-funds-beiruts-crisis-spills-over-2021-05-25\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has run out of funding amid Lebanon\u2019s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a U.N. tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. read more <\/a>. Both sides have appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court\u2019s financial problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,\u201c U.N. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri\u2019s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri\u2019s son, prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri, who declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINANCES \u201eVERY CONCERNING\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eIf you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,\u201c Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the U.N. expressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be \u201ea disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon\u201c, he said, appealing for international funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eLebanon needs full accountability,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal\u2019s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49% of the bill and foreign donors and the U.N. members making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,\u201c court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. \u201eNo decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,\u201c she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.N. extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government\u2019s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to U.N. documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the U.N. General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.<\/p>\n","post_title":"EXCLUSIVE U.N. tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut\u2019s crisis spills over","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"exclusive-u-n-tribunal-for-lebanon-runs-out-of-funds-as-beiruts-crisis-spills-over","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:35:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=5359","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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