News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

400 000 children face starvation in Nigeria

Posted: 27 Oct 2016 12:06 AM PDT

"Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent," Peter Lundberg, acting deputy UN humanitarian co-ordinator, says.

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United Nations - "Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent," Peter Lundberg, the acting deputy UN humanitarian co-ordinator, warned on Wednesday.

Nearly 400,000 children face starvation in the West African country.

In a news release issued here by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), wrapping up his first few weeks in his current post, Lundberg assured the Nigerian government of the international community's commitment to working closely with federal and state mechanisms to accelerate a collective response to the situation.

Many Nigerian citizens in the northeastern part of the country are suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water.

He also welcomed the recent announcement of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force and High Level Humanitarian Co-ordination Group, and the Borno state Humanitarian Response Committee and looked forward to seeing "tangible impact in the coming weeks and months."

According to Lundberg, humanitarian assistance by the government and the aid community is being provided to the millions of people in desperate need despite insecurity and access constraints. However, relief agencies should continue to maintain neutrality, impartiality and independence and continue to work where security permits.

"Needs are currently higher than the response capacity and we must ensure that we have both access and resources to scale up our humanitarian support in the months to come," he said.

Despite some very generous contributions from organisations such as the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and donations from the wider donor community, the Nigerian Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016, which requires US$484 million for life-saving interventions, has only received one third of the needed funding.

"Without the means to respond, innocent boys, girls, women and men will die," he said. "The highest priority requirement for this response remains food security which is just 25 percent funded."

He also noted that the attacks on the humanitarian convoy on July 28 and recent suicide bombing in Maiduguri on October 12 serve as stark reminders "that we must not let down our guard in such a high risk environment." Indeed, the security of humanitarian actors remains a top priority for the humanitarian community, he added.

Lundberg affirmed OCHA's commitment to support and assist international organisations with the structures and mechanisms they require to safely carry out their work. He also noted the recent improvements in displaced populations' assessment, calling this development a "springboard" that will improve access to affected populations.

Nigeria's northeast region has been a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram. Over the past months, the Nigerian government has launched several military operations to eliminate the terrorist group. The devastation to human lives and livelihoods by the insurgency in Northeast Nigeria is severe, with more than an estimated 20,000 persons killed, an estimated 2.4 million persons displaced and billions of naira worth of personal and public assets destroyed.

Xinhua

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Please don’t abandon us, Nigeria urges airlines

Posted: 26 Oct 2016 11:02 PM PDT

Nigeria has appealed to Emirates and other airlines not to scale down operations in the West African country.

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Abuja - Nigeria has appealed to Emirates and other airlines not to scale down operations in the West African country, arguing it was attempting to deal with a currency crisis and fuel shortages that have hit airlines' operations.

Emirates last week said it will suspend its four times a week service between Dubai and Abuja from Oct. 30.

Nigeria's Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika said he had told an Emirates west African executive that the government was aware of the challenges affecting airlines and was working hard to resolve them.

He said he had asked Emirates and other airlines to reconsider their decisions due to the impact on customers.

Nigeria's naira has plunged in value against the US dollar this year due to the impact of low oil prices and a central bank move in June to scrap a dollar peg.

Domestic and international carriers have struggled with the plunge in the naira, which has made bills for imported jet fuel more expensive and squeezed profit margins as many passengers pay in the local currency.

Kenya Airways has also announced plans to suspend flights to Abuja by next month. United and Iberia both stopped services to Nigeria earlier this year.

Both Emirates and Kenya Airways will continue to serve Nigeria with a flights to and from the country's most populous city and commercial capital, Lagos.

To avert a full currency crisis, the central bank has held a two-month dollar forward auction to clear a backlog of demand from airlines and other companies.

Reuters

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Africa should change ICC from within - Botswana minister

Posted: 26 Oct 2016 04:11 AM PDT

African states unhappy with the International Criminal Court should work to reform it from within, says Botswanan foreign minister Pelomoni Venson-Moitoi.

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Johannesburg - African states unhappy with the International Criminal Court (ICC) should work to reform it from within rather than pulling out, Botswanan foreign minister Pelomoni Venson-Moitoi, a candidate to become the next African Union (AU) chief, said.

With the AU increasingly divided over the ICC, South Africa announced last week that it planned to quit, but Venson-Moitoi said she believed an African war crimes court could be beefed up to work alongside its Hague-based counterpart.

Although South Africa argued that the ICC's Rome Statutes were at odds with its laws granting leaders diplomatic immunity, other African countries see the tribunal purely as an instrument of colonial justice that unfairly targets the continent.

"I don't see why we should be pulling out. The good thing is that a few more members now, within the AU, agree that pulling out is not the solution. We should be working towards fixing," she told Reuters in an interview, without elaborating.

After she spoke, Gambia said late on Tuesday it too was withdrawing from the ICC, calling it "an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans".

Venson-Moitoi's main rival for the AU chair is Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed. Kenya has also been leaning towards ICC withdrawal since charges were brought against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, over links to post-election bloodshed in 2008 in which at least 1,200 people were killed.

The cases against both collapsed for lack of evidence.

The AU is likely to choose its successor to South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at its annual summit in January.

Should she prevail, Venson-Moitoi said she would try to get the Tanzanian-based African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, which unlike the ICC currently grants immunity to sitting leaders, to "work together" with the Hague tribunal.

The outspoken 65-year-old also advocated more robust and rigorous AU monitoring of regional elections as an antidote to the controversy, disputes and violence that habitually follow polls in many African countries.

"I'm quite aware of what it takes to run a fair election, to avoid abuse, to avoid conflict," she said. "You must manage the whole process so that when the number comes out at the end, it confirms a clean process."

In its 50 years since independence, Botswana has built a reputation as a stable, peaceful and prosperous democracy with a no-nonsense political leadership.

Last month, President Ian Khama caused fury in neighbouring Zimbabwe when he told Reuters that his 92-year-old counterpart, Robert Mugabe, was too old to remain in office.

Venson-Moitoi reaffirmed the sovereignty of member states but said she would be demanding answers personally from leaders whose internal problems spilled into neighbouring states, as has happened this year with refugees fleeing violence in Burundi.

"I'm a hands-on person. I would get on the next plane and go there. That's how I work. If it means going there and talking to the refugees, I'd go there and talk to them myself," she said.

Such comments are likely to ruffle feathers in the AU, where interfering in a member nation's internal affairs remains a big taboo, but Venson-Moitoi said a dose of honesty and plain-speaking would do her, and the continent, no harm.

"That's what Africa needs. There is nothing wrong with being outspoken - if you are outspoken for the right reasons. If you are outspoken in the interests of Africa, I don't see anything wrong with that."

Reuters

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Kenyatta cancels trip after bomb leaves 12 dead

Posted: 26 Oct 2016 12:09 AM PDT

President Uhuru Kenyatta has cancelled a trip to Angola in solidarity with the families of the Kenyans who lost their lives in a hotel bomb attack.

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Nairobi - President Uhuru Kenyatta has cancelled his official trip to Angola in order to attend a local security meeting in solidarity with the families of the Kenyans who lost their lives in the Mandera attack, the State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said.

Esipisu said the Kenyatta sent his condolences to the bereaved and wished the injured speedy recovery.

"The President condemns in the strongest terms this heinous attack by these depraved individuals. Our security agencies will do everything in their power to bring them to justice," Esipisu said the statement on Tuesday.

He said that Kenyans would not allow themselves to be divided along religious lines, which is what the terrorists want and added that to win the war on terror Kenyans needed to work closely with the security agents.

Kenyans woke up on Tuesday to news of a terror attack at a guest house in the remote town of Mandera town that killed 12 people.

In a statement to media, the Regional Commissioner of North Eastern Mohamoud Saleh said that at around 3.30am on Tuesday, an IED bomb exploded at the Boshari Hotel in Mandera Town and that part of the building collapsed leaving 12 people dead.

He said the government condemned "this act of terror" and that investigations were under way to establish the source of the explosion. Mohamoud said that officers on patrol responded immediately, cordoned off the area and began search and rescue operations which were still ongoing.

He said at least six people had been rescued alive from the debris and that preliminary investigations into the attack were yielding good leads for the police.

Mandera, he said, is usually under 24 hours security surveillance.

Local media reported that 10 non-locals were among the dead and had travelled to Mandera to stage plays for set books for the Form Four (equivalent of O Levels) national exams which begin countrywide in November.

Mandera is at the border with Somalia and Ethiopia and is considered a volatile area by Kenyans due to frequent attacks by Somali militias who cross the porous border between the two countries.

According to a BBC radio report, Al Shabab have claimed responsibility for the attack.

In November 2014, Al-Shabab fighters hijacked a bus in Mandera and killed 28 non-Muslims on board. In December 2014, they killed 36 quarry workers. And early this month six people were killed in a residential building in Mandera. In December 2015, gunmen sprayed a Mandera bound bus with bullets and asked Muslim passengers to help them identify the non-Muslim passengers. The Muslims refused and opted to live or die with the non-Muslims.

Witnesses said the attackers left the scene in disbelief.

Al Shabab attacks on Kenya escalated since 2011 when Kenya sent troops into Somalia to fight the militias and help the Somali government stabilise the country.

African News Agency

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