Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Thousands of Nigerians uprooted from their homes by the Boko Haram insurgency hit the streets of Maiduguri Sunday in protest at food shortages and poor conditions in their refugee camp, demanding they be allowed to go home. More than 2.6 million people have been displaced …
Read More »Sudan student condemned to hang for killing of policeman
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A court in Sudan on Sunday sentenced a university student to death after convicting him of killing a policeman during protests in the capital last year, a defence lawyer said. Asim Omer, who was studying at Khartoum University, was arrested in December 2016 and charged with …
Read More »UN needs $200 million for ‘catastrophic’ Rohingya influx
Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP | The United Nations will need $200 million over the next six months to face the “catastrophic” influx of more than 420,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, a top UN official said Friday. The Rohingya Muslims, escaping ethnic unrest in Myanmar, have overwhelmed Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar in under …
Read More »Nigeria warned land wars threaten national security
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria was warned on Tuesday that clashes between herders and farmers threatened the country’s national security, after such conflict claimed more lives last year than the Boko Haram insurgency. The International Crisis Group said some 2,500 people were killed in 2016 and tens of thousands …
Read More »Key points from Myanmar leader’s address on Rohingya crisis
Naypyidaw, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi broke her silence on the Rohingya crisis Tuesday, in a speech aimed at appeasing an international community horrified by army-led violence which the UN describes as “ethnic cleansing”. Here are key points from the 30-minute address, which was nationally …
Read More »17 bodies found in DR Congo east border lake
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | The bodies of 17 civilians apparently fleeing violence in the troubled North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo were found in Lake Edward, a local official said Tuesday. The civilians “drowned trying to flee clashes between the Mai-Mai and soldiers from the …
Read More »Suu Kyi appeals to global community over Rohingya crisis
Naypyidaw, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi reached out to the global community Tuesday in a broad appeal for support over a refugee crisis the UN has decried as “ethnic cleansing”, urging outsiders to help her nation unite across religious and ethnic lines and offering a pathway …
Read More »70,000 new and expectant mothers among Rohingya influx: Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP | Bangladesh said Monday there were 70,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers among the wave of Rohingya refugees who have entered the country after fleeing violence from Myanmar in the past three weeks. The UN says 415,000 civilians from the Rohingya Muslim minority have arrived in Bangladesh since …
Read More »UN seeks $10 million as Nigeria cholera outbreak worsens
Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | At least 44 people have now died in a cholera outbreak in northeast Nigeria, the United Nations said Monday, calling for nearly $10 million to keep the disease from spreading. “To date, the outbreak has claimed at least 44 lives, out of close to 2,300 …
Read More »Suicide bombers kill 15 in northeast Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | At least 15 people were killed on Monday when suicide bombers attacked an aid distribution point in northeast Nigeria, in the latest suspected strike by Boko Haram insurgents against civilians. The blasts occurred in the Konduga area, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Borno state …
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