UN identifies five militia group it links to the worsening security in eastern DR Congo
The United Nations (UN) named five groups behind what it calls a deteriorating security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), manifested by an increasing number of attacks on civilians, notwithstanding “impartial and robust” protection efforts by MONUSCO. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, attributed attacks to...
Coffee break: New study says moderate consumption of coffee lowers the risk of death
Coffee is a popular beverage for many people and is associated with various health benefits. New research suggests that drinking a moderate amount of sweetened or unsweetened coffee is associated with lower mortality risk. Based on the study’s observational nature, the findings cannot conclusively prove that coffee lowers the risk...
Funding disaster: UN emergency aid coordination agency has no classification for forgotten disasters
Bangladesh’s population is nearly 168 million – 99,000 of whom were displaced following 31 disasters in 2021. Nepal’s population is 30 million, meaning that proportionally almost exactly the same amount of displacement occurred. Azmat Ulla, head of Nepal’s delegation at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies...
UN predicts disasters, fuelled by climate change, will rise sharply by 2030 as funding dips steeply
Every year for the past two decades, an estimated 350 to 500 medium-to-large disasters have taken place globally; numbers only expected to rise further due to the climate crisis. But many, like the case studies we report on here in Peru and Nepal, receive little attention beyond the areas directly...
‘Weed’ is currently subject of political storm in Kenya, but is the interest in its hyped medicinal efficacy genuine?
Three weeks ago, I wrote about the various medical approaches to treating pain, and one reader emailed to ask why I hadn’t mentioned cannabis. I had been thinking about more mainstream options, but I was wrong to ignore cannabis because, in several parts of the world, this drug has now...
President Mohamud’s second coming: Security and universal suffrage top new Somali leader’s agenda
Newly elected Somalia President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud plans to move with speed to entrench democracy and mend fences with neighbours Kenya and Ethiopia after nearly three years of a diplomatic standoff occasioned by territorial, trade and security disputes, his allies say. And he was on cue at his second inauguration....
how video analysis provided evidence of how Russia trucks and ships ferry stolen Ukrainian wheat for export
In late April, video surfaced of columns of covered trucks driving what Ukrainian officials said was captured grain. In an analysis of the video, it has been confirmed it was taken in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, showing the convoy headed southwest on a main road toward Crimea. It was...
Ethiopia conflict: Experts want AU, regional bodies and Kenya to capitalise on ‘humanitarian truce’ to strike peace deal
After almost two years of conflict between the federal government and Tigrayan forces, Ethiopia seems to have decided to resolve its most devastating militarised conflict peacefully. On March 24, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali declared a humanitarian truce “to facilitate a free flow of emergency humanitarian aid...
America accuses Russia of planning to vend contraband Ukrainian wheat to 14 African countries
American diplomats have alerted 14 countries, most in Africa, that Russian ships filled with stolen Ukrainian grain could be headed their way, posing a dilemma to countries facing dire food shortages. Russia has bombed, blockaded and plundered the grain production capacity of Ukraine, which accounts for one-tenth of global wheat...
Anywhere in Africa Russian mercenaries Wagner Group takes root, violence and death follow – report
In the months since the junta ruling Mali invited Russia’s Wagner Group into the country, more than 450 people have died in military actions carried out by Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) in partnership with Wagner mercenaries, according to reports by the United Nations and others. “Malian Armed Forces, supported on...
