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AFRICA: ?Sexually-transmitted grades? kills quality educationDAKAR Friday, October 10, 2008 (IRIN) - Sexual exploitation in African schools has become so widespread that children have come up with their own terms to refer to sexual relations with their teachers. From ?Sexually Transmitted Grades? to ?BF?, or bordel fatigue, which refers to exhaustion from multiple sexual activities with teachers, this slang hints at the prevalence of exploitation in Africa?s learning environments.
Source : irinnews.org | 10-Oct-2008 12:39
SOMALIA: Floods add to IDP misery in Lower Shabelle
NAIROBI Thursday, October 09, 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of internally displaced persons living in camps in and around Somalia's southern port town of Marka have been left without shelter after heavy rains pounded the area, officials said.
Source : IRIN | 09-Oct-2008 15:09
ETHIOPIA: Can't eat, won't learn
HWASSA Thursday, October 09, 2008 (IRIN) - Ethiopia's schools have opened for the new academic year, but severe food insecurity in some regions has kept thousands of children out of class.
Source : IRIN | 09-Oct-2008 08:29
SOMALIA: NGOs urge international community to protect civilians
NAIROBI Tuesday, October 07, 2008 (IRIN) - Insecurity, drought and record-high food prices have led to a rapid escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, with some 3.25 million people now needing emergency aid, NGOs said.
Source : IRIN | 07-Oct-2008 13:30
SOMALIA: Piracy threatens aid delivery - analyst
NAIROBI Friday, October 03, 2008 (IRIN) - The international community must formulate a plan to ensure that piracy does not interrupt the supply of food aid to war-torn Somalia, a consultant with Chatham House, an international think-tank, has said.
Source : IRIN | 03-Oct-2008 18:39
ERITREA: Food shortages feared as rains fail
NAIROBI Friday, October 03, 2008 (IRIN) - A combination of poor rains, decreased food production and the knock-on effects of increased global prices would adversely affect vulnerable groups in Eritrea this year, aid agencies warned.
Source : IRIN | 03-Oct-2008 12:59
GLOBAL: "Hot topic" - special journal issue on climate and migration reviewed
JOHANNESBURG Monday, September 29, 2008 (IRIN) - The October issue of the Forced Migration Review (FMR), a journal published three times a year by Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre, is a 38-article buffet on climate change and displacement, a ?hot topic? according to Jean-Francois Durieux, a lecturer at the centre.
Source : IRIN | 29-Sep-2008 17:59
AFRICA: Call to ban cluster bombs
KAMPALA Monday, September 29, 2008 (IRIN) - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called cluster munitions "an abomination whose manufacture and use should not be tolerated by any government", amid calls for African countries to do more to ensure the weapons are banned.
Source : IRIN | 29-Sep-2008 17:29
SOMALIA: Fighting forces 18,500 to flee Mogadishu
NAIROBI Monday, September 29, 2008 (IRIN) - Fighting between insurgents and Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and AU peacekeepers has sparked another exodus of civilians from Mogadishu, a local human rights group said
Source : irinnews.org | 29-Sep-2008 14:49
GLOBAL: Charity coffers face credit crunch
GENEVA Friday, September 26, 2008 (IRIN) - With the US going through the most significant financial restructuring since the great depression, international aid agencies and NGOs have reason to be wary, observers said.
Source : IRIN | 26-Sep-2008 11:59
GLOBAL: Leadership determines AIDS performance
JOHANNESBURG Thursday, September 25, 2008 (IRIN) - As South Africa prepared to swear in a new president on 25 September after the dramatic ousting of Thabo Mbeki four days before, attempts by commentators to summarise the former president's mixed legacy have not failed to mention his controversial stance on AIDS.
Source : IRIN | 25-Sep-2008 18:44
SOMALIA: Hospitals "swamped" as clashes continue
NAIROBI Wednesday, September 24, 2008 (IRIN) - The main hospital in Mogadishu is overwhelmed by the number of injured people seeking treatment since fighting in the capital intensified, medical sources told IRIN.
Source : irinnews.org | 24-Sep-2008 14:59
SOUTH AFRICA: Govts urged to recognise the right to affordable food
JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, September 23, 2008 (IRIN) - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has called on governments to draw up national laws obliging them to take action when there is a threat of famine or food insecurity.
Source : irinnews.org | 23-Sep-2008 18:30
SOMALIA: Mogadishu rocked by ?worst shelling yet?
NAIROBI Tuesday, September 23, 2008 (IRIN) - At least 100 people were killed and thousands fled their homes in the ?worst fighting? to hit Mogadishu in recent months, locals told IRIN.
Source : irinnews.org | 23-Sep-2008 16:30
SOMALIA: Hundreds affected by diarrhoea in north
NAIROBI Monday, September 22, 2008 (IRIN) - Authorities in Burao in the self-declared republic of Somaliland are struggling to contain an outbreak of watery diarrhoea, medical sources said on 22 September.
Source : irinnews.org | 22-Sep-2008 15:50
AFRICA: Humanitarian Air
JOHANNESBURG Friday, September 19, 2008 (IRIN) - Often the forgotten heroes of humanitarian assistance, pilots play a critical role in making sure that aid gets to where it is needed most around the world - and sometimes they pay the ultimate price.
Source : IRIN | 19-Sep-2008 10:50
SOMALIA: Families forced into camps by drought
NAIROBI Thursday, September 18, 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of people affected by drought in Galgadud, central Somalia, have abandoned their homes and moved into displaced person's camps around Guri-Eil town, local sources said.
Source : irinnews.org | 18-Sep-2008 15:20
ETHIOPIA: Somali region facing food and water crisis
ADDIS ABABA Wednesday, September 17, 2008 (IRIN) - The Somali region of south-eastern Ethiopia is facing critical food and water shortages, with many families eating only one meal a day and others migrating to urban areas, the UN and aid agencies said.
Source : IRIN | 18-Sep-2008 07:00
SOMALIA: Violence taking heavy toll as peace talks resume
NAIROBI Wednesday, September 17, 2008 (IRIN) - Talks to end the conflict in Somalia have resumed in Djibouti, but human rights activists have warned that continuing violence has taken a heavy toll on the civilian population, especially in Mogadishu.
Source : irinnews.org | 17-Sep-2008 15:40
SOMALIA: Nuurto Aweys: "When you are hungry you will eat anything that does not eat you"
ARBISKA (MOGADISHU), Tuesday, September 16, 2008 (IRIN) - In July, Nuurto Aweys, 30, fled fighting between Ethiopian-backed government troops and insurgents in Mogadishu and sought shelter in a camp for the displaced in Arbiska area, 20km south of the capital. The area hosts hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Source : irinnews.org | 16-Sep-2008 14:20
DJIBOUTI: Over half the population needs emergency assistance
NAIROBI Monday, September 15, 2008 (IRIN) - More than half of Djibouti's population is food insecure and needs emergency aid due to drought and high food prices, an early warning information service has said.
Source : irinnews.org | 15-Sep-2008 14:30
GLOBAL: Economic slowdown to push 100m into poverty
NAIROBI Friday, September 12, 2008 (IRIN) - Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, warns in a new report that the gains made in reducing extreme poverty are under threat from the rise in global food and fuel prices and global economic slowdown.
Source : irinnews.org | 12-Sep-2008 09:10
SOMALIA: School attacks "must stop"
NAIROBI Thursday, September 11, 2008 (IRIN) - Attacks on schools in Mogadishu are an unacceptable violation of children's rights and a breach of international treaties, conventions and Somali norms and values, aid agencies said.
Source : irinnews.org | 11-Sep-2008 13:30
ETHIOPIA: More parents saying no to FGM
ADDIS ABABA Thursday, September 11, 2008 (IRIN) - Fewer Ethiopian parents are subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation and cutting, according to an NGO campaigning to eradicate the practice.
Source : irinnews.org | 11-Sep-2008 10:20
SOMALIA: Heavy rains compound IDP plight
NAIROBI Wednesday, September 10, 2008 (IRIN) - The torrential rains that pounded Mogadishu over the weekend have washed away shelters for internally displaced people (IDPs) camping in and around the city, local leaders said.
Source : irinnews.org | 10-Sep-2008 16:00
YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: Calm sea lures African migrants
SANAA Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (IRIN) - Hundreds of African migrants, mostly Somalis, have taken advantage of calm seas to make the perilous journey from Somalia to Yemen in the first week of September and more are expected, Hussein Hajji, the Somali consul in Aden, said.
Source : IRIN | 09-Sep-2008 14:20
SOMALIA: Northeastern villages facing starvation
NAIROBI Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of villagers in Mudug region of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are on the brink of starvation due to severe food and water shortages, local officials said.
Source : irinnews.org | 09-Sep-2008 14:00
SOMALIA: IDPs plead for help in southern town
NAIROBI Thursday, September 04, 2008 (IRIN) - Displaced Somalis living on the outskirts of the southern coastal town of Merka, 100km south of Mogadishu, held a demonstration on 3 September to call attention to their plight.
Source : irinnews.org | 04-Sep-2008 16:19
ETHIOPIA: Desperate farmers eat seeds before planting
SEKE Thursday, September 04, 2008 (IRIN) - Martne Harja had prepared her three-quarter hectare piece of land at Galcha Seke village in Wolayita zone of Ethiopia?s Southern Region for the planting season, but her seven children found themselves without food after the rains failed.
Source : irinnews.org | 04-Sep-2008 16:09
ETHIOPIA: Families hard hit by food crisis
KARAT Wednesday, September 03, 2008 (IRIN) - The crowd that filled Konso Mekane Yesus primary school in Karat town, 600km south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, were not pupils, but hundreds of mothers and children forced by food shortages to queue for relief rations.
Source : IRIN | 03-Sep-2008 17:39
SOMALIA: Schools close in protest over insecurity
NAIROBI Wednesday, September 03, 2008 (IRIN) - A three-day protest against insecurity and attacks targeting educational institutions in Mogadishu has shut down most schools and left thousands of children out of class, locals said.
Source : irinnews.org | 03-Sep-2008 16:49
SOMALIA: Southern town tense after clashes
NAIROBI Tuesday, September 02, 2008 (IRIN) - Tension is high in the strategic town of Jowhar, 90km north of Mogadishu, two days after factions of opposition militia clashed in the area, locals told IRIN.
Source : irinnews.org | 02-Sep-2008 15:09
ETHIOPIA: Battling malnutrition in the south
GIRARA Monday, September 01, 2008 (IRIN) - Since June, Girara health centre in southern Ethiopia has been a hive of activity each Monday when health staff run the outpatient therapeutic clinic.
Source : irinnews.org | 01-Sep-2008 16:39
KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee surge stretching camp facilities
DADAAB Monday, September 01, 2008 (IRIN) - Maka Abullahi Keinan, 18, is among hundreds of refugees newly arrived from Somalia at Dagahaley, one of the three main refugee camps in Dadaab town in northeastern Kenya. "Before, the fighting was just between the militias but now they come to the towns looting, burning and raping women. This forced us to flee," Keinan told IRIN.
Source : irinnews.org | 01-Sep-2008 10:49
GLOBAL: Food wasted is water lost
JOHANNESBURG Friday, August 29, 2008 (IRIN) - To meet growing food demand, in another 40 years the world would need enough water to fill at least three lakes the size of Victoria, Africa's largest body of water, according to a projection in a new policy brief. Lake Victoria's estimated volume is 2,750 km3.
Source : irinnews.org | 29-Aug-2008 18:19
ETHIOPIA: Two months of rain but still not enough to eat
BADESSA Friday, August 29, 2008 (IRIN) - In normal times, the weekly market in Badessa town, Damot Woyde district of Wolayita zone in Ethiopia?s Southern Region, fills with fresh food as farmers and traders bring in crops from the surrounding hills.
Source : IRIN | 29-Aug-2008 15:19
SOMALIA: IRIN interview with Mark Bowden, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
NAIROBI Friday, August 29, 2008 (IRIN) - After almost two decades of civil war and anarchy, Somalia is now suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with 3.2 million people, almost half the population, in need of assistance. To make matters worse because of security problems, killing and kidnappings of relief workers, access to those in need has become almost impossible.
Source : IRIN | 29-Aug-2008 09:29
ETHIOPIA: Thousands more displaced as floods spread
ADDIS ABABA Wednesday, August 27, 2008 (IRIN) - Flash floods following torrential rains in Ethiopia's Gambella regional state have spread to four woredas [districts] and displaced thousands more people, an official in the area said.
Source : IRIN | 27-Aug-2008 16:49
SOMALIA: Humanitarian situation "increasingly acute"
NAIROBI Wednesday, August 27, 2008 (IRIN) - Somalia is moving more rapidly than expected into a serious humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 3.2 million people both in urban and rural areas facing extreme poverty, according to humanitarian officials.
Source : IRIN | 27-Aug-2008 16:34
SOMALIA: Conditions getting worse in IDP camps
NAIROBI Tuesday, August 26, 2008 (IRIN) - Conditions for thousands of internally displaced persons camping on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu are getting worse, with malnutrition cases increasing as more arrive daily, sources told IRIN.
Source : IRIN | 26-Aug-2008 16:50
ETHIOPIA: A little money gets big results
ADDIS ABABA Monday, August 25, 2008 (IRIN) - Birkay Gadenah is not any bank's idea of a good credit risk. The 36-year-old mother of five lives in the tin-roof shantytown of Burayu, 12km west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But eight months ago, she and nine other women from the neighbourhood funeral society, or "edir", formed a community savings and loan group. "It has changed my life," she said.
Source : irinnews.org | 25-Aug-2008 18:20
ETHIOPIA: Urban poor finding it harder to get food
ADDIS ABABA Monday, August 25, 2008 (IRIN) - Fatuma Ali and Tieba Hussein left Hara village in Wollo, Amhara region of northeastern Ethiopia with some of their neighbours, believing that they could improve their livelihoods in the capital city, Addis Ababa.
Source : irinnews.org | 25-Aug-2008 18:05
SOMALIA: Thousands displaced as insurgents take control of Kismayo
NAIROBI Monday, August 25, 2008 (IRIN) - Islamic insurgents took total control of Somalia's southern port city of Kismayo, 500km south of the capital Mogadishu, after three days of intense fighting that displaced thousands of families and claimed the lives of at least 100 people.
Source : irinnews.org | 25-Aug-2008 17:10
GLOBAL: Pressure on to reach emissions agreement
ACCRA Friday, August 22, 2008 (IRIN) - Industrialised and developing countries will be under intense pressure to agree on greenhouse gas emission reduction targets during week-long negotiations over future greenhouse gas emission targets which kicked off in the Ghana capital Accra on 21 August.
Source : irinnews.org | 22-Aug-2008 17:25
ETHIOPIA: Thousands displaced by flash flood in Gambella
ADDIS ABABA Friday, August 22, 2008 (IRIN) - Two rivers in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia have burst their banks following torrential rains that fell in the area for three consecutive days, government officials in the area said.
Source : irinnews.org | 22-Aug-2008 15:50
GLOBAL: Cyclones, storms and hurricanes
JOHANNESBURG Thursday, August 21, 2008 (IRIN) - One symptom of climate change is more severe tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, featuring in the headlines more often.
Source : irinnews.org | 22-Aug-2008 09:55