DAKAR, 19 November 2013 (IRIN) – Djité Sekou, 32, smokes as he passes his nights guarding one of the many high-rise apartment buildings in Dakar, Senegal. It has been eight years since his first cigarette – a Monte Carlo from Morocco – and when money is available he goes through 20 to 30 per day. It is an addiction that can cost him up to a quarter of his monthly income. Like most smokers in Senegal, he rarely buys a full packet, preferring to purchase cigarettes individually – a sales strategy tobacco companies employ to ensure that even those with…
Author: ARIN News
MBERA/BASSIKOUNOU, 19 November 2013 (IRIN) – Since April, when the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) started biometric registration of the Malian refugees in Mauritania’s Mbera camp, 8,000 of the 68,000 registered refugees have been de-activated from the system – almost all of them Mauritanians from nearby towns and villages hoping to access aid handouts. In September, a small group of camp residents tried to destroy the registration centre in protest of the new system, raising a key question: when and how should aid agencies helping refugees also try to assist vulnerable host populations? The situation in Mauritania is by no means…
MAIDUGURI, 15 November 2013 (IRIN) – As attacks by militant group Boko Haram (BH) continue to spread terror across northeastern Nigeria, the government’s response is also causing widespread fear among civilians. Mass sweep-ups of BH suspects, led by the military’s Joint Task Force (JTF), have led to mounting reports of detainees dying or disappearing in custody. According to rights group Amnesty International (AI), in the first six months of 2013, at least 950 people in the northeastern cities of Maiduguri, in Borno State, and Damaturu, in Yobe State, died in military custody. Most of the alleged victims were suspected members…
BAMAKO, 14 November 2013 (IRIN) – Explosives experts are clearing Malian villages of weapons left over from the recent conflict. The weapons and explosive devices have killed or injured around 100 civilians – half of them children – so far this year in the country’s central and northern regions, areas seized by Islamist rebels in 2012 and later targeted by international forces. Earlier this month, a child was killed in Konna area, in central Mali, while he was handling unexploded ordnance (UXO). Four other civilians were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the northern Kidal…
MBERA, 11 November 2013 (IRIN) – Nomadic or semi-nomadic populations often struggle when hemmed into refugee camps. They are used to having a lot of space and being mobile, and they typically travel with a lot of animals, which comprise both their assets and livelihoods. Yet camp boundaries are necessary to determine who is receiving assistance and to ensure aid meets humanitarian standards. But aid agencies are increasingly tasked with not only protecting refugees’ lives but also their ability to recover from crisis, and accommodating pastoralists’ livestock is often the best way to do this. The mass exodus of…
DAKAR, 8 November 2013 (IRIN) – The delay of polls in Guinea-Bissau signals the likely extension of a transition period currently scheduled to wind down on 31 December. The transition follows an April 2012 coup that has weakened the economy, caused dire food insecurity and repelled major donors. International pressure has resulted in the formation of an inclusive government, an electoral commission, and a planning and coordination panel tasked with overseeing the remainder of the transition and initiation of a new government. But the transition is unlikely to end on the 31 December target date. Elections initially set for 24…
FREETOWN, 6 November 2013 (IRIN) – The ongoing trial of Sierra Leone’s former Deputy Education Minister Mahmoud Tarawally on rape charges has made headlines and highlighted the prevalence of sexual violence in the country. More than 6,500 incidents of domestic- and gender-based violence were reported in Sierra Leone in the first eight months of 2013, almost as many as in the whole of 2012. Authorities say the upward trend is likely due to more people deciding to report cases of sexual abuse. Tarawally, who has since been sacked, was charged after a report was filed by the alleged victim, a…