Rapists or peacekeepers? Investigators alarmed by UN inaction on sex abuse by Rwandan soldiers in Central African Republic
“If I haven’t gone to see MINUSCA, it is because I don’t know who to turn to, but also because I am afraid,” said Jeanne*, a fruit and vegetable vendor who said she was raped by a Rwandan peacekeeper last year. “They say that their peacekeepers have come from their country to protect us, only to rape us, so what can we do?”
Iran expresses concern Israel is planning to bomb its atomic sites, appeals to UN to intervene
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel would listen to key ally the United States regarding a response to Iran’s missile attack but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.
Cameroon’s separatist conflict forces hundreds of thousands of students out of education
The Central African nation has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority and setting up an independent, English-speaking state.
Netanyahu warns Hezbollah that Israel will respond to ‘bitter mistake’ after aborted drone attack on his house
A UN school sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City was hit, killing several people, according to the Hamas-run civil defence first responders.
Investigation: How Ethiopian authorities submit lists of 100,000 fake names, which they use to steal relief food
Some aid recipients in Ethiopia said they do sometimes sell some of their food rations, but out of desperation. “I got aid because I have health conditions,” said Leelity Gebreegizabher, a single mother of two in a camp in the town of Shire. “A local official helped me to get 15 kilos of food so that I could sell some of it to buy medicine.”
Investigation: WFP, US, state and military officials massive implicated in theft of relief food as hundreds of starving Ethiopians died in Tigray region
Some US officials privately accuse the UN food body of being untrustworthy. An internal WFP investigative report cites a May 2023 cable from Washington’s top US diplomat in Ethiopia at the time: “The scale and depth of diversion” in areas where the WFP managed food relief “calls into question WFP’s ability to be a faithful and principled” partner for distributing food in Ethiopia.
UN envoy to Western Sahara wants the territory divided between Morocco and Polisario Front
Western Sahara is a region in northwest Africa that the United Nations has considered a “non-self-governing” territory since 1963, when it was a Spanish colony. It considers Polisario the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. Morocco controls the majority of the phosphate-rich region and considers it to be its “southern provinces,” while Polisario sees itself as a government in exile and operates out of refugee camps in southwest Algeria.
UN agency warns disregard, disrespect for international law ‘reaching a deafening crescendo’
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon insisted on Wednesday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Gaza that his country’s humanitarian efforts remain “as comprehensive as ever.”
US warns Israel to boost humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk losing weapons funding
For Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day, Israel must institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for humanitarian sites, Austin and Blinken said in their letter. They said Israel had 30 days to respond to the requirements.
US piles pressure on Israel to improve Gaza humanitarian situation or risk military support
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials on Sunday demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave amid a renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, US officials said on Tuesday.
