Category Archives: Conflict and arms

Tanzania warns return of hundreds of Burundian refugees is just the start

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Burundians who fled political violence at home complain of pressure tactics as 600 people are repatriated voluntarily

Nearly 600 people who fled political violence in Burundi have been repatriated voluntarily from Tanzania amid warnings from the country that it plans to return all Burundians taking refuge there, willing or not.

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, announced the return last week, saying that about 590 Burundian refugees had left Tanzania in buses for Gisuru, in eastern Burundi, where there is a transit centre for returning refugees, witnesses said.

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UK stance on Khashoggi murder betrayed by unlawful arms sales to Saudis

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The UK government’s continued loyalty to Saudi Arabia is causing its ‘rigorous and robust’ arms export control regime to descend into tatters

Wednesday marked the anniversary of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Outrage at his death at the time served as a trigger for public reckoning over US and UK support for Saudi Arabia and its involvement in the war in Yemen.

At that point, the war was three and a half years old, notable for airstrike attacks on civilians and a blockade that has pushed millions into famine – violations of international law, some of which that may amount to war crimes. The murder of a prominent western-friendly journalist seemed to be the final straw.

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‘We cry and cry’: pain endures for mothers of missing Chibok schoolgirls

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Five years after she last saw her daughter, Yana Galang fears the world has forgotten a tragedy that splintered families and is now the subject of an award-winning documentary

Last week, Yana Galang left her small farm in Borno state, Nigeria, in the care of seven of her eight children and travelled by bus and train for the first time to the capital, Lagos. From there, she became the first member of her family ever to board a plane, and came to New York.

The mother of one of the 112 Nigerian schoolgirls of Chibok still missing after being abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 came to the city during the UN general assembly, on a mission to remind the world that – five years on – their children still have not been brought home.

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Rise in children forced to join militias raises fresh fears over South Sudan

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Growing number of young fighters combined with sexual violence and ethnic tensions threatens return to civil war, UN warns

UN investigators have warned that despite the fragile peace in South Sudan, the recruitment of children into the army and militias is on the increase as each side seeks to bolster infantry numbers.

The investigators also warned that sexual violence against women and localised ethnic violence are increasing tensions that could return the country to civil war.

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Nigeria detained children as young as five over ‘Boko Haram links’ – report

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Human Rights Watch says thousands of children were detained in distressing conditions by military over last six years

The Nigerian military arrested thousands of children it suspected of involvement with Boko Haram, holding them in squalid conditions for years in some cases, according to a new report.

Some of the children detained were as young as five, and others described being crammed into overwhelmingly hot, crowded cells in a notorious military facility in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri called Giwa barracks, said a report released by Human Rights Watch.

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Attacks escalate against Afghanistan’s human rights defenders – report

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Amnesty says activists have been attacked and killed with impunity, with their plight ‘largely ignored’ at home and abroad

Human rights defenders in Afghanistan are suffering relentless attacks, intimidation and harassment amid escalating violence, Amnesty International has warned.

In a damning report castigating both the government and armed groups including the Taliban and Islamic State, Amnesty said activists and members of civil society organisations have been shot at and killed in attacks that remain uninvestigated by the authorities.

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Violence forces 1.9 million children out of classes in west and central Africa

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Unicef report points to three-fold increase in number of schools closed in the region in two years due to intensifying conflict

More than 1.9 million children are forced out of school across west and central Africa due to rising violence and insecurity, putting them at higher risk of recruitment by armed groups, the UN’s children agency has warned.

In an urgent report published on Friday, Unicef revealed that more than 9,000 schools have been shut down as of June this year in eight countries; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

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Wrong peace deal could mean ‘return to chaos’ for Afghanistan

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US-Taliban agreement will not be successful without involvement of government and citizens, say Afghan women’s rights groups

Afghanistan could “return to chaos” with the wrong peace deal, say women’s rights groups in the country. A poorly negotiated agreement without proper representation of Afghan citizens and a clear counterterrorism strategy would place the democratic gains of the past 18 years at risk, says Suraya Pakzad, founder of the Voice of Women Organisation.

Talks between the US and the Taliban are running alongside campaigning for twice-postponed presidential elections, now due to take place on 28 September.

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‘Before I was kidnapped I had friends’: the girl soldiers of South Sudan | Samuel Okiror

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A reintegration programme has helped 360 girls leave armed groups in Yambio county but for many the trauma of sexual violence persists

Late one night in April 2015, 13-year-old Patricia* and her sister, who was 11, were kidnapped from their beds by rebel forces fighting the government in South Sudan.

The girls were taken from their home in a raid on their village by the South Sudan National Liberation Movement in Yambio county, not far from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Iraq’s burning problem: the strange fires destroying crops and livelihoods

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Fires in northern Iraq have reduced a potentially bumper harvest to ashes. The government blames mischance – but is something more sinister afoot?

Plumes of smoke shroud the summer sky of Iraq’s northern plains, creating an ominous veil of grey. Fires in Nineveh province have broken out on a scale that farmers here describe as unprecedented, turning tens of thousands of acres of wheat and barley fields into barren patches of black.

“Look at that, the livelihood of the people is destroyed,” says Jalal Muamah as he picks up a handful of charred barley spikes that pepper his field near the town of Sinjar. “We won’t have a harvest better than this year, not even in the next hundred years.”

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‘Scores’ killed in Yemen as UAE-backed fighters seize parts of Aden

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Clashes between forces backed by former Gulf allies UAE and Saudi threaten ‘new civil war within a civil war’, says thinktank

“Scores” of people were killed and hundreds wounded during recent fighting in Yemen’s key port of Aden when southern separatists – trained by the UAE – seized key locations of the city from Saudi-backed government forces.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Aden told the Guardian that large parts of the city were also left without electricity and water during the fighting after services were targeted. Humanitarian staff warned that any further fighting between forces allied with the two coalition partners would be “devastating”.

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Sharp rise in number of children killed in Mali’s deadly attacks

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Death toll reported by Unicef highlights deepening crisis, with recent spate of violent ambushes attributed to ethnic militias

The number of children killed in Mali in the first six months of this year is twice the number who died for the whole of 2018, according to the UN’s children agency.

Inter-communal attacks are the main reason for the sharp rise in children being killed and maimed in the west African country, Unicef said, with most of these attacks concentrated in the central region of Mopti. More than 150 children were killed and 75 injured in violent attacks in the first six months of 2019.

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‘I know how to use a gun’: children living on Afghanistan’s frontline – in pictures

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In a war that has been raging for decades, a third of the casualties are children. Last year, the UN recorded 927 child deaths and 2,135 injuries. In the first half of this year, 327 children were killed and 880 wounded.

Children across the country continue to live on the frontlines – and sometimes get caught in the middle of it all. Here, they share their experiences

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‘We’re not afraid to lead’: Myanmar’s displaced find a new voice

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Fearful for their safety, many of the 241,000 people forced from their homes by conflict in Myanmar are reluctant to go back. Now campaigners are mobilising to resist organised returns

Bawk Nu Awng hasn’t been home since 2011. All three of the villages where she spent her childhood have been destroyed.

“War hit wherever my family lived,” she said. “I feel like it is my responsibility to engage in all matters related to peace.”

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Make environmental damage a war crime, say scientists

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Call for new Geneva convention to protect wildlife and nature reserves in conflict regions

International lawmakers should adopt a fifth Geneva convention that recognises damage to nature alongside other war crimes, according to an open letter by 24 prominent scientists.

The legal instrument should incorporate wildlife safeguards in conflict regions, including protections for nature reserves, controls on the spread of guns used for hunting and measures to hold military forces to account for damage to the environment, say the signatories to the letter, published in the journal Nature.

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Bangladesh prepares to move Rohingya to island at risk of floods and cyclones

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Foreign affairs minister defends controversial proposal as ‘only solution’ despite misgivings of human rights campaigners

The first Rohingya refugees could be relocated to an island in the next few months under controversial plans drawn up by the Bangladesh government, the country’s state minister of foreign affairs has said.

Some of the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar and are now living in camps in Cox’s Bazar will be relocated to the silt island of Bhasan Char in the estuary of Bangladesh’s Meghna river, accessible only by boat.

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‘Alarming’ shortfall in foreign aid for world’s biggest crises

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Chief of leading aid agency warns that halfway through current funding year, less than a third of required money has been donated

The head of one of the world’s leading aid agencies has issued a stark warning over the “alarming lack of funding” for global humanitarian crises.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, noted that halfway through the current funding year, humanitarian organisations had received less than a third of money – 27% – needed to provide relief to people affected by crises worldwide.

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Syrians are watching crops burn. These starvation crimes must end | Mohammad Kanfash and Ali al-Jasem

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Amid a war that may have cost 500,000 lives, we must hold the Syrian government and others to account for the use of hunger as a weapon

In 2017, we started an agricultural project to help hundreds of families survive the blockade by the Assad government, as part of the Damaan Humanitarian Organization’s programme to support civilians in besieged eastern ghouta in Syria.

The project not only provided sustenance to the besieged population, it offered employment opportunities for many people.

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‘War on drugs’ makes Philippines fourth most dangerous country – report

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Duterte’s violent anti-drugs operations are responsible for 75% of civilian deaths this year

President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “war on drugs” has made the Philippines the fourth most dangerous place in the world for civilian-targeted violence, according to a report that places the country behind conflict-ridden Yemen.

The report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) identifies India as the most dangerous country, with 1,385 violent events that targeted civilians. Second place is Syria with 1,160, followed by Yemen with 500, and the Philippines with 345. It supports comments made recently by Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, who voiced concerns over ongoing human rights abuses in the Philippines and the “extraordinarily high number of deaths – and persistent reports of extrajudicial killings – in the context of campaigns against drug use”.

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