Covid holocaust that never was: Africans now carry masks ‘to protect my pocket’ against the police
At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus...
Belarus decision to clear camps of refugees has sparked fears asylum seekers will soon be deported
Many of the Iraqi refugees who have attempted to reach the European Union through from Belarus are from the Kurdish ethnic group that makes up the majority of the population in the north of the country. Along with people of other nationalities taking the route, many saw it as an...
Showdown between EU and Belarus escalating tensions on Europe’s eastern border
For weeks, a fast-evolving showdown between the European Union and Belarus has been fuelling a humanitarian crisis on Europe’s eastern border, with thousands of asylum seekers and migrants being used as pawns in a geopolitical dispute. Tension escalated last week as somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 asylum seekers and migrants...
Kenya’s pastoralists wary of middlemen lying in wait to make a killing as they wallow in misery
Although pastoralism is the bedrock of the economy in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL), the potential of commercialisation is blunted by a weak value-chain – from a lack of abattoirs and market access to only limited production of hides and skins, which effectively relegates pastoralism to a subsistence level....
For Kenya’s pastoralists climate crisis hurt them and their livestock, ranches are killing their economy
Kargi is an isolated settlement, two-hours’ drive from the northern Kenyan town of Marsabit, across an ancient volcanic plain of jagged scree and basalt rock. As inhospitable as the terrain seems, Kargi does have a borehole, and that makes it something of an oasis for pastoralists trying to get their...
UN releases $40 million for Ethiopians ‘living on knife-edge as humanitarian crisis grows deeper and wider’
The United Nations says it has released emergency funds to help provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians caught up in Ethiopia’s spiralling conflict. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Monday that he had released a total of $40 million aimed at scaling up emergency operations in the...
Analysis of climate commitments suggest ‘the world can save $300 billion annually if a global carbon market were in place’
Minister from the 200 countries that took part in the 26th conference of Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, face stinging criticism for failure to agree on whether to create a “loss and damage” fund, a kind of insurance policy that would compensate climate-vulnerable countries for damage resulting from emissions...
Despite deal on greenhouse gas emissions, scientists at Glasgow meet warn ‘COP26 hasn’t solved the problem’
Government ministers at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) have reached a deal on further steps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions after discussions overran by 24 hours. On 13 November, representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed the final text of the deal, which pledges further action...
Why some South Sudanese think the US has abandoned them at the hour of need as fighting continues
The Core tenets of the 2018 South Sudan peace deal, including creating a unified army, have been repeatedly delayed. Analysts warn that divisions within President Salva Kiir’s and First Vice President Riek Machar’s parties – including recent calls for a leadership change that prompted a government crackdown – risk further...
Tenth anniversary: Some South Sudanese find themselves regretting vote for independence
The night after he watched government-allied forces burn his village to the ground, Dhoal Gatwich Gatjani gathered his family and started walking north. He had heard that a United Nations base was offering protection. As civil war devastated the country in the years that followed, Gatjani and his family were...
