ZIMBABWE: Humanitarian operations curtailed by violence

from IRIN via AlertNet

Zimbabwe's post-election violence is hampering the activities of humanitarian organisations and making the country's already dire food situation even more precarious. One-third of the population, or about four million people, are receiving food aid.

An official of the National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (NANGO), an umbrella body for humanitarian and civil organisations, who declined to be identified, told IRIN they were "concerned that post-election violence is brazenly denying people access to already scarce food ... It is becoming very difficult for humanitarian workers to get out there and extend food to needy communities."

Zimbabwe is expecting another poor harvest after incessant early rains were followed by a prolonged dry spell this season, coupled with a shortage of agricultural inputs and the under-utilisation of farming land by resettled farmers, all being compounded by an upswing in political violence.

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IDPs in Kenya hesitant to return home despite relative calm

from UNHCR

CHOGOCHO, Kenya, April 16 (UNHCR) – Thousands of internally displaced people (IDP) in Kenya are still hesitant to go home despite the return of peace to parts of the country affected by post-election violence at the start of the year.
Most of the IDPs, especially in western Kenya's Rift Valley Province, fear they will be attacked if they return home. Some 300 students at the school have had to move to other institutions, putting pressure on crowded education facilities in the area.
"I still don't feel safe walking around here without a weapon," said 72-year-old Githinji, who was seen in Chogocho recently carrying a bow and arrows. "Members of the other community regularly attack us when we come to cultivate our farms," he added.


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http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/48061ec34.html

Zimbabwe bans political rallies

from BBC

Zimbabwean police have banned political rallies "with immediate effect", amid growing tension over the country's disputed presidential election.

The decision came amid confusion over whether President Robert Mugabe would attend a regional summit on the crisis, in Zambia at the weekend.

The results of the election, held 13 days ago, have yet to be released.

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NIGERIA: No condoms for Anambra State

Unfortunately, a familiar argument against the distribution of condoms: If we don't tell children how to use condoms, then they won't have sex. Clearly, that isn't the case. One of these days, adults will realize that the surest way to get children to do something is to tell them not to do it.

from IRIN

It is now illegal to encourage the use of condoms in southeast Nigeria’s Anambra State. The state government has also banned the advocacy and distribution of other forms of contraceptives including IUDs (intrauterine device) and any other “un-natural” birth control.

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Mugabe's Zanu-PF loses majority

from BBC

President Robert Mugabe's party has lost its majority in parliament, official results show.

Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has so far taken 94 of the 210 seats, while opposition parties have won 105, the Zimbabwe Election Commission says.

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Zimbabwe stands 'on a precipice'

from BBC News

Zimbabwe is standing on a "precipice" as official results from Saturday's general election start to trickle in, the opposition has said.

Leading Movement for Democratic Change official Tendai Biti says party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won 60% of the vote, against 30% for Robert Mugabe.

Official results show both sides have 12 parliamentary seats so far. Mr Biti says the results are being rigged.

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Voting ends in Zimbabwe election

from AlertNet

Voting ended on Saturday in Zimbabwe's most crucial election since independence in 1980.

Polling stations closed around 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) after 12 hours of voting in presidential, parliamentary and local elections which many Zimbabweans hope will reverse the country's economic collapse under veteran President Robert Mugabe.

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SUDAN: Worsening banditry threatens humanitarian effort in Darfur

from IRIN

Relief agencies in Sudan have expressed concerns over an alarming increase in the number of attacks by bandits against people carrying out humanitarian work in the strife-torn region of Darfur, and warned that violence is threatening to disrupt aid delivery to thousands of needy people.

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DRC: Rise in TB cases linked to co-infection with HIV

from IRIN

Efforts to combat the spread of tuberculosis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been slowed down by the problem of TB patients also infected with HIV, local health officials said.

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Nearly two-thirds of Africans lack access to proper sanitation, UN says

from UN News Centre

Over 60 per cent of Africans lack access to a proper toilet, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ahead of World Water Day – observed on 22 March – whose 2008 theme is “Sanitation Matters.”

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Launch of the national campaign against sexual violence in the DRC

from UN MONUC via ReliefWeb

The Ministry of Gender, Family and Child, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and members of the 'Initiative Conjointe de lutte contre les violences sexuelles' (the joint initiative to fight against sexual violence) officially launched on 18 March 2008 in Kinshasa, the national awareness campaign and plea about sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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GHANA: Profile of a child prostitute

from IRIN

This is the story of 13 year-old Bernice, one of the many children in Ghana who have been driven away from parents too poor to care for them, ended up on the street with no education or money, and been recruited into Ghana's booming child sex trade.

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Thousands of Central Africans immunized against meningitis outbreak – UN

from UN News Centre

Almost three-quarters of the population of a northern prefecture in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been vaccinated against a deadly outbreak of meningococcal meningitis that struck the impoverished nation last month, the United Nations reported today.

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HORN OF AFRICA: Funds to help cushion 12 million against drought

from IRIN

In an effort to buttress an estimated 12 million people in the Horn of Africa against the effects of recurring drought, the European Commission (EC) has made available 30 million euros (US$47.3 million) to fund disaster preparedness projects in seven countries in the region.

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UNHCR steps up voluntary repatriation to Southern Sudan

from UNHCR via ReliefWeb

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 14 March 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UNHCR has stepped up repatriation movements from countries bordering Southern Sudan. Since the beginning of the year, 15,700 organized returns of Sudanese refugees have taken place – three times more than for the same period last year. The weekly return rate has increased from 600 people at the beginning of the year to 3,000 at the beginning of March. This trend is expected to continue over the coming months, with up to 16 overland return corridors and air bridges set up by UNHCR and its partners for repatriation movements back to Southern Sudan.

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Displaced Kenyans reluctant to return home, UN reports

from UN News Centre

Many of the tens of thousands of Kenyans driven from their homes by the violence that has gripped the east African country following last December’s contested elections are reluctant to return to their homes, the United Nations reports.

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UN refugee agency helps Mauritanian refugees return home from Senegal

from UN News Centre

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has resumed assisting Mauritanian refugees return to their home country from Senegal where they have been in exile for nearly two decades.

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UGANDA: Eliminating meningitis saves 5,000 children a year, say officials

from IRIN

Up to 5,000 children under the age of five will be saved in Uganda every year after a vaccine halted mortality rates from the deadly strain of meningitis that has been infecting up to 30,000 people in the east African country, officials said on 13 March.

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South African UN Goodwill Ambassador meets rape survivors

from UN News Centre

Women who have survived sexual violence endure a “triple tragedy” – physical, psychological and social – in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South African singer and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Goodwill Ambassador Miriam Makeba has said.

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Hollywood humanitarians assist critical UN air operations in Darfur

from UN News Centre

A few days after the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned its air transports for aid workers in war-ravaged Darfur could be grounded for lack of funds, an organization of Hollywood celebrities has provided the first donation of the year to keep it running.

WFP’s Humanitarian Air Service (WFP-HAS) has received $500,000 from Not On Our Watch, the humanitarian organization founded by actors George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, producer Jerry Weintraub and civil rights lawyer David Pressman, the agency said today.

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