Category: Uncategorized

CHAD

HEAVIEST RAINS IN 30 YEARS AFFECT 340,000 PEOPLE

Through August, torrential rainfall and floods, the heaviest in 30 years in Chad, have left parts of the capital N’Djamena submerged under water and forced thousands to flee their inundated houses. By the end of August, the unprecedented flooding affected over 340,000 people, which surpassed last year’s figures where through 2021, about 250,000 people were affected by floods there. In N’Djamena’s eighth district, families had recourse to wooden boats to cross streets that have been awash with flood water since the end of July. Floods are frequent in West and Central Africa during the rainy season, which typically lasts from May to October. However, this year the rains came in greater quantity, immediately flooding ponds and drainage systems. Large parts of the region are now under water, with numerous countries recording above-average precipitation.

SENEGAL

FLOODING IN AND AROUND THE CAPITAL KILLED 3 PEOPLE

Between 2 and 4 September, heavy rains and severe floods in the capital Dakar and neighboring regions killed three people and affected 208 locations across the city.

According to the “Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie” (ANACIM), the country’s meteorological agency, on 2 September, some southern parts saw as much as 88 mm of rain. More rainfall is expected and is likely to affect several regions in the coming days.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

AID AGENCIES PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO 7,000 PEOPLE IN ISOLATED AREAS

Humanitarian partners started scaling-up emergency assistance in Ouanda-Djallé subprefecture, Vakaga prefecture, in the north. They delivered nutrition, health, and non-food items to 7,000 people living in isolated areas and conducted preparations for future interventions. The assistance is part of a broader strategy jointly adopted by humanitarian agencies aiming at assisting about 28,500 people in the remote areas of Vakaga prefecture in the north and HauteKotto Prefecture in the north-east. These communities live in precarious conditions and are almost completely isolated during the rainy season, between April and October.

NIGERIA

ARMED MEN KILL FOUR CIVILIANS IN A MOSQUE IN ASKIRA

On 2 September, armed men killed four civilians in a mosque in Askira Local Government Area (LGA) in Borno state, in the northeast. According to local media, the fighters opened fire on worshippers as they gathered for the evening prayers, killing four people on the spot and injuring others. This is the second major attack targeting civilians in Askira in the last two weeks. The area has been witnessing a resurgence of violence after months of relative calm.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Assertions by Russian President Vladimir Putin that only a fraction of grain exported from Ukraine was going to poor countries are untrue, the British Defense Ministry says.

Without providing proof, Putin said on September 7 that only two of 87 ships, carrying 60,000 metric tons of products, had gone to poor countries.

The deal to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, took effect last month.

Quoting UN figures, the British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter on September 11 that around 30 percent of grains exported under the deal has been supplied to low and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The ministry accused Russia of pursuing a deliberate misinformation strategy to deflect blame for food-insecurity issues, discredit Ukraine, and minimize opposition to its invasion.

In related news, France’s transport minister said on September 11 he would sign an agreement with Romania to increase Ukrainian grain exports to developing countries including to the Mediterranean.

“Tomorrow, I will sign an accord with Romania that will allow Ukraine to get even more grains out…toward Europe and developing countries, notably in the Mediterranean (countries) which need it for food,” Clement Beaune told LCI television, adding that the deal covered exports by land, sea, and river.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to remove weapons and troops stationed next to a Ukrainian nuclear plant amid growing international concerns about a potential catastrophe.

During the September 11 call, Macron also urged the Russian leader to fulfill a UN-brokered deal on Ukrainian grain exports to ensure they reached nations most in need.

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, following Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

They have used the plant to shell Ukrainian positions, leading some in the West to accuse Moscow of nuclear blackmail.

During the call, Putin tried to put the blame on Ukraine, claiming it was firing on the plant, according to a Kremlin readout of their interaction.

Macron, however, told Putin that the main risk of a nuclear catastrophe emanates from the presence of Russian troops and weapons at the plant.

He called on the Russian leader to remove the troops along with heavy and light weapons stationed nearby, the French statement said.

The two leaders expressed readiness for a “nonpoliticized interaction” on the matter with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Kremlin statement said.

Operations at the plant were fully stopped on September 11 as a safety measure.

Macron also called on Putin to fulfill the agreement between Moscow and Kyiv on Ukrainian grain exports brokered by the UN and Turkey in July.

Russian warships had been blocking exports from Ukraine, one of the world’s top suppliers of grain to foreign markets, causing a sharp spike in food prices that threatened millions of people in poor nations with starvation.

Putin hinted last week at backtracking on the deal, claiming the grain is failing to reach poorer countries as intended despite ample evidence to the contrary.

Grain prices have tumbled since the deal was reached, easing economic pressures on poor countries.

During the call with Macron, Putin also complained Western sanctions were hindering supplies of Russian food and fertilizers to Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, according to the Kremlin readout.

However, Europe and the United States did not target either Russian grain or fertilizers for sanctions.

James O’Brien, head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, said last week that Washington sees “no disruption” in Russia’s ability to send food to world markets.

“The fertilizer is still reaching markets at the same rate that it always has,” he told reporters on September 9.

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ address, via a recorded message, at the 4th Symposium on International Law and International Policy of the Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations “40 years since the 1982 Montego Bay Convention on the Law of the Sea” (Rhodes/Kastellorizo, 11.09.2022)

Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure that I address this year’s Conference, especially on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS.

A Convention to which our country attaches utmost importance.

The Convention is also known as the ‘Constitution of the Oceans’, and this description is not a verbal exaggeration.

It is a description used by many of my Asian counterparts, among others, as I discovered during my recent visit to Asia.

The UNCLOS is a comprehensive regulatory framework that guarantees stability and legality in the activities of states at sea.

For our country, the UNCLOS has been the compass, the “Holy Gospel” of our foreign policy.

More than 165 countries have already ratified it.

And even countries that have not done so, such as the USA, call for its full and unconditional implementation.

UNCLOS is part of customary Law.

In accordance with the rules of the Convention, our country has taken a number of nationally significant and beneficial actions in recent years.

And I am proud to have participated in these actions: in the maritime delimitation agreement with Italy in June 2020, in the partial EEZ delimitation agreement with Egypt in August 2020.

Greece has repeatedly stated its intention and readiness to negotiate similar agreements with other neighbouring countries on the basis of International Law.

To this end, we have agreed with Albania to refer the delimitation of the maritime zones of the two states to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in full compliance with the provisions of the UNCLOS.

Furthermore, in this way, our country exercised its right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea area. And it reserves the right to exercise it in other parts of its territory.

Unfortunately, Turkey is the only country in the region that stubbornly refuses to accept what is obvious and apply UNCLOS.

Turkey’s violation of the rules of the International Law of the Sea constitutes a source of tension and instability.

-The threat to use force if Greece exercises its right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles,

– the promotion of the “Blue Homeland” theory, and

– the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum,

are elements of Turkey’s unlawful conduct. All these constitute flagrant violations of

International Law that seriously undermine any attempt to peacefully resolve the sole dispute we have with our neighbouring country.

Our country consistently supports and promotes positions and solutions in accordance with the Convention, which is, after all, part of the European acquis.

After 40 years, UNCLOS is more relevant and effective than ever in addressing global challenges.

And the need to ensure its integrity is more urgent than ever.

That is why Greece will continue to defend its interests and rights, always in accordance with UNCLOS.

I’d to add that Greece, through its active role in the UNCLOS Friends Group, is taking initiatives to highlight the importance of UNCLOS for stability and peace.

In this regard, the “Our Ocean Conference 2024” to be hosted by Greece aims, among other things, to highlight the aspect of environmental protection under the provisions of UNCLOS.

I wish you every success!

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic

MOGADISHU, Somalia – September 7, 2022 — Approximately 7.1 million people in Somalia are dealing with crisis levels of hunger and an official declaration of famine is predicted as soon as October without significant additional humanitarian response. This is according to a new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee, a panel of independent international food security and nutrition experts. including Action Against Hunger, a global nonprofit leader in the movement to end hunger.

The worst drought in 40 years, conflict, and skyrocketing food and fuel prices have left 20.5 million people across the Horn of Africa in urgent need of food assistance. Somalia is particularly hard-hit.

According to Action Against Hunger and the new IPC report, in Somalia:

-The drought has killed an estimated three million livestock and more than one million people have been forced to flee their homes in search of food and water.

-Without current levels of humanitarian assistance, famine already would have been declared in the Bay regions of Somalia.

-Malnutrition in Somalia’s Baidoa and Burhakaba districts has doubled over the past year, and people there will face famine (IPC Phase 5) between October and December 2022 without significant additional humanitarian assistance.

“The climate crisis is a food crisis. Across the Horn of Africa, four rainy seasons have failed and people are dying of hunger every day. If the rains don’t come next month, then famine almost certainly will,” said Ahmed Khalif, Country Director for Action Against Hunger in Somalia. “With food increasingly hard to find and impossible to afford, more parents face the impossible choice of which child gets to eat and which might die. The world has enough food for everyone. Now, we need the will to act.”

Across Somalia, 6.4 million people lack access to clean water and safe sanitation, which is leading to outbreaks of waterborne diseases and gastrointestinal illness that make hunger worse — and which can be deadly for malnourished children.

“By the time a child with severe malnutrition reaches our stabilization centers, they already face the imminent threat of death from hunger. One mother in the Burhakaba district left home in search of food and help for her child only to discover that her baby died on her back. The tragedy is so widespread, many deaths are never reported,” said Khalif. “Malnutrition is treatable. Yet, our centers are overwhelmed with patients and often do not have enough supplies, beds, staff or medicines. We need more resources to save lives and reach more families sooner to prevent these senseless deaths.”

A regional challenge

Across the Horn of Africa – the region that includes Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia – 7.1 million children suffer from acute malnutrition as a result of the drought, which has been compounded by local conflict and rising prices resulting from the war in Ukraine. The United Nations has called for $1.8 billion to provide assistance to nearly 22 million people in crisis, but so far, only a portion of the needed funding has been received.

Action Against Hunger today urged world leaders to scale up aid, immediately, to save lives and prevent more communities from edging closer to famine.

Action Against Hunger in Somalia

Action Against Hunger has been working in Somalia since 1992 and in 2020 served nearly 9% of the country’s total population. The nonprofit is:

-Promoting health: Action Against Hunger works to strengthen health systems and runs 68 health and nutrition facilities and mobile teams, including five hospitals and 30 health centers

-Treating and preventing hunger: so far this year, Action Against Hunger has treated nearly 100,000 children and adults for malnutrition and other illnesses. It also is giving 185,000 families emergency cash assistance so they can buy the food they need, and helping farmers with solar irrigation kits, seeds and fertilizer to once again become self-sufficient in the face of the climate crisis.

-Providing clean water: Action Against Hunger is giving people the supplies and knowledge they need to prevent cholera, working to restore wells where possible, and trucking water to thousands of people, an expensive emergency measure that is not intended to be long-term.

Source: Action Against Hunger USA

At least 36.1 Million people across the Horn of Africa are going hungry as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia experience the worst drought in 40 years. With factors across the three countries ranging from four failed rain seasons and a potential fifth, rising costs of living, high inflation, climatic shocks, the Ukraine conflict that has seen wheat and fertilizer shortages, and insecurity, indicators point to the situation worsening.

In Ethiopia, according to UNOCHA, 24.1 million people are currently affected by below-average rainfall as a result of the climate crisis, this is a drought of proportions unseen in recent history. Inaccessibility of food and poor access to water is causing a rise not only in malnutrition amongst children but also across entire communities. Millions of cattle and livestock have already died as pasture and water points dry up. With the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) forecast indicating an even drier than average October to December, when the rains would be expected, the situation will surely worsen.

Benoit Munsch, CARE International’s Managing Director for the Horn of Africa said, “As the food security situation worsens in Ethiopia, we are particularly concerned about the impact this is having on women and girls. Even though CARE has intervened early with food distributions for some affected communities, as well as through agriculture, cash transfers, health and nutrition, and WASH interventions, the unmet need remains staggering. This humanitarian crisis is the challenge of a generation. More funding and support is required to provide life-saving assistance to the hard-hit communities affected by the drought and to help them rebuild more resilient and sustainable livelihoods.”

In Kenya, almost 1 Million children under the age of five and 115,725 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished. These are part of the 4.2 million Kenyans who are facing a severe drought and acute food insecurity. The Government of Kenya declared the drought a national disaster in September 2021. As the cost of living skyrockets and the country continues to feel the impact of the Ukraine conflict, it is expected that more people will continue to slip into hunger and hence the need for enhanced humanitarian response.

Mwende Kusewa, CARE International Kenya interim Country Director said, “While government subsidies on fuel and corn flour are welcome, they offer a very short-lived relief. Unfortunately, as the cost-of-living increases and with a projection that the short rains will likely be below average, we anticipate a grim situation in the coming months. Already it’s reported that in some of these areas, project participants are starting to prefer direct food distribution interventions rather than cash transfers because the high cost of food means that they will increasingly buy fewer food rations with the cash transferred to them.”

On 5th September 2022, humanitarian organizations sounded the alarm that parts of the Bay area in Somalia would slip into famine in October 2022 as the country faces it 5th Failed rainfall season. Somalia has been experiencing the worst drought in 40 years with 7.8 million people experiencing acute food insecurity with the U.N. reporting that, between January to June 2022, at least 200 children have already died as a result. Access to water is becoming increasingly challenging as most water points have dried up and prices have spiked. This is forcing women and girls to travel long distances in search of this precious commodity exposing them to GBV.

We are witnessing massive displacement of communities, with record estimates indicating at least 1 million people have moved from their homes in search of food and water with others even crossing borders. As herds of livestock have been annihilated due to a lack of pasture and water, the livelihoods of millions have been affected causing them to fall further into poverty.

Hali, a 70-year-old mother of 10 children says, “My whole life I was a pastoralist. Due to this prolonged drought in our village, my herd was decimated. I used to have 150 goats and 30 camels, now I am only left with 10 weak goats. I fled the drought and relocated to another place to raise my family.”

Somalia depends on wheat and fertilizer from Ukraine. As the conflict protracts beyond its six-month mark, prices of fertilizer, fuel, and wheat have soared affecting the accessibility of these to many in Somalia.

Iman Abdullahi, CARE International Somalia Country Director said, “We are currently in 11 regions in Somalia offering life-saving rapid response support to affected communities. We are supporting affected communities with Unconditional cash transfers, clean drinking water, health, and nutrition support for children under five years, and psychosocial support for women and girls affected by GBV. Immediate and urgent action is required to scale up our response to save the affected even as the situation worsens.”

Across the Horn of Africa region, CARE International is tirelessly engaged to support the communities that we work alongside. Kate Maina-Vorley, CARE East and Central Africa Regional Director said, “We have worked in the region for many decades, and it will be unfortunate to see some of the work that we have done, especially in support of women and girls being eroded.

For example, in Somalia, girls are dropping out of school to support their families in the search of food. We are weary that practices such as early marriage and Female Genital Mutilation may resurge. With the rising hunger and malnutrition levels, the rise of disease could worsen the situation. At the same time, we are very aware of the situation of neighboring countries, such as Sudan and South Sudan which are also experiencing an increase in food insecurity. In partnership with other humanitarian organizations need to act swiftly to upscale our response to stem this worsening disaster. we call on donors to increase funding to support the scale-up of the ongoing response”

Source: CARE