Food security: African Union working on long term plan to raise cropland, cut further imports
A statement issued at the Pre-African Union Extra-Ordinary Summit on Post-Malabo CAADP Agenda media briefing by Maj-Gen David Kasura-Kyomukama, cites statistics that show Africa spends $100 billion – mainly on cereals – while $16 billion goes to fat and oil imports.
Attack on Haiti’s largest hospital raises fresh questions over UN delay in reinforcing Kenyan-led mission
A spokesperson for the mission, led by Kenya, said after shooting began that its personnel had not been invited to the
conference and it had sent in reinforcements. The national police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sudan suspends participation in global hunger-monitoring system on eve of famine report
In a letter dated December 23, the government’s agriculture minister said the government is halting its participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system. The letter accused the IPC of “issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity.”
How Ethiopia is suffocating with its own IDPs, refugees from the Sudans, Eritrea and Somalia
Levels of forced displacement in Mali continue to expand as the security situation deteriorates. Violence linked to militant Islamist groups has grown and these militant actors now control an estimated 50 per cent of the country.
Foreign appetite for Africa’s natural resources generates over 14 million refugees and internally displaced persons
With 3 per cent of its total population forcibly displaced, Africa has both a larger share and absolute number of forcibly displaced people than any other major region in the world.
Rape is ‘used in most Haitian camps as a deliberate tactic to control women’s access to humanitarian assistance’
There are currently more than 700,000 displaced people in Haiti, and 25 per cent of them live in makeshift displacement sites in Port-au-Prince like the one where Béatrice was killed. These are often schools, churches or government buildings that are overcrowded and where there is limited-to-no access to basic services, adequate food or healthcare.
Russia arrests, detains man it says was architect of chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov assassination
In a video published by the Baza news outlet, which is known to have sources in Russian law-enforcement circles, the suspect is seen sitting in a van describing his actions. It was not clear under what conditions he was speaking and Reuters could not immediately verify the video’s authenticity.
Mass graves sites in Syria expose ousted President Assad’s ‘machinery of deat’ with about 100,00 killed
An international war crimes prosecutor said on Tuesday that evidence emerging from mass grave sites in Syria has exposed a state-run “machinery of death” under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad in which he estimated more than 100,000 people were tortured and murdered since 2013. Speaking after visiting two mass grave sites...
Syrian Christians attend Sunday services in test of Islamist rulers’ promise to protect minorities
In the coastal city of Latakia, long an Assad stronghold, Lina Akhras, a parish council secretary at the St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, said on Sunday that Christians had been “comfortable” under his rule in terms of freedom of belief but that they just wanted to live in peace and harmony.
Forced out of school by war some 17m Sudanese children currently rely on aid groups for succour
International aid groups and UN agencies are providing some education assistance in parts of the country where there has been less fighting. And schools have also reopened in some areas that are fully controlled by the army-aligned government.
