Regional News
Police Arrest 2 Suspects Tied To Cameroon Market Explosion – HumAngle Media
Authorities in Cameroon have arrested two persons concerning an explosion in the Mokolo market in Yaounde, the country’s capital.
HumAngle learnt that police arrested the suspects a few hours after the explosion.
According to local sources, the explosion from an improvised explosive device injured one person.
The two suspects are sellers in the market, sources said. The explosion was the second in the market within a week. No group has claimed responsibility.
Violence Against Children In Conflict Zones Increased By 20% In 2021- UN Report – HumAngle Media
A United Nations report has revealed that violence against children in conflict zones increased by 20 per cent in 2021.
In the report published on Monday, July 11, the UN listed sexual violence, rape, mutilation, murder, abductions and the recruitment of child soldiers as violence against children.
The annual report indicated that abductions and rape increased in 2021.
The report reviewed activities in several countries in conflict and identified in an annexe titled “List of Shame” those responsible for the violations, state and non-state authorities, and armed groups.
49 Attacks On Health Facilities, Workers, Recorded In Nigeria In 2021– Report – HumAngle Media
A new report has revealed that 49 violent attacks against health care workers and the obstruction of health care occurred across Nigeria in 2021.
According to the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC), these incidents happened across 17 states, and nearly a quarter occurred in Borno State, northeast Nigeria.
Of the 49 incidents, 30 health workers, including medical doctors and laboratory technicians, were reportedly kidnapped across 13 states.
Health workers were kidnapped alone or in small groups. In one case, in July 2021, five health workers, including two nurses, were abducted by an armed gang that stormed the residential headquarters of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria.
#AK9 Train: Terrorists Holding 5 Children Among Other Captives – HumAngle Media
The terrorists currently holding up to 43 people kidnapped on the Abuja-Kaduna bound train on March 28, 2022, have refused to release five children among the captives, HumAngle can report.
Among the over 60 victims kidnapped, five are children and remain captive even after 20 persons have been released so far.
“They are four from one family and one from another. The oldest is nine,” one of the recently released captives told HumAngle.
On Sunday, July 10, seven more captives were freed, including Bosede Olurotimi, Abubakar Zubairu, Alhassan Sule, Sadiq Ango Abdullahi, Muhammad Daiyabu Paki, and Aliyu Usman, as well as the only foreign national of Pakistani origin, Dr Muhammad Abuzar Afzal.
Separatist Leader Kills 2 Persons In Northwest Cameroon – HumAngle Media
An Anglophone separatist ‘General’ in Bamali, a locality in the Ngoketunjia division in Cameroon’s northwest region, has killed two persons.
According to reliable sources, the victims, Sacho Mathias and Lawrence Mango were accused of collaborating with the national army to eliminate some separatist fighters. The incident occurred on Tuesday, July 5.
Last week, the Cameroon army operated in the zone, which resulted in the death of a separatist ‘General’ and some of his combatants. The national army was said to have received a tip-off concerning the ‘General’ by the Bamali population, a situation that angered the separatists.
However, the murder of the two individuals, one of whom was a businessman, has provoked the anger of the people of the area, who have vowed to continue cooperating with the military against the separatists.
More than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries, the UN has said, five of which are in Africa.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, the new UN report – World Population Prospects 2022 –released Tuesday shows will contribute more than half to the increase leading the human population to the 8 billion mark on November 15 of this year.
The report also shows that India is on course to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
It suggests that, in 61 countries or areas, population is expected to decrease by at least one per cent over the next three decades, as a result of sustained low levels of fertility and, in some cases, elevated rates of emigration,
High or low mortality in a given country is also a factor in that country’s overall population growth: the longer people live, the more time they have to be counted, the report showed.
And, as expected, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on population change, the UN report added, suggesting further that human population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, and to 9.7 billion in 2050, before reaching a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s. The population is expected to remain at that level until 2100.
Insecurity Worsens As Nigeria Records 736 Deaths, Abduction Victims Double In June – HumAngle Media
Following periods of improvement, the number of deaths recorded in Nigeria as a result of insecurity spiked in June, as shown by an analysis of data collected by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST).
Last month, at least 736 people were killed in Nigeria, indicating a troubling decline in security levels across different parts of the country. In May, the death toll, according to the same source, was 594.
The same pattern can be observed in the data regarding the number of people kidnapped, which rose from 227 in May to 534 last month.
Among the fatalities were 432 civilians, 59 security personnel, and three political actors. Others killed during the period were 62 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, 11 kidnappers, 10 robbers, and 187 other armed persons.
Peace and Security
N’Djamena, 12 August 2019: From 6 to 9 August 2019, the Commission of the African Union (AU) supported the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in convening consultations among national authorities of the member countries, towards improving and harmonizing practices in handling persons associated with Boko Haram and managing Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) recovered during MNJTF operations.
The workshop was organised as part of the efforts to enhance compliance of the MNJTF with international best practices in the management of SALW; and in the treatment and handling of persons associated with Boko Haram. The workshop was also in line with the Regional Strategy for the Stabilization, Recovery and Resilience of the Boko Haram affected areas of the Lake Chad Basin (RSS). It complemented efforts to implement the relevant pillars of the RSS, particularly those relating to Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation, Reinsertion and Reintegration of Persons associated with Boko Haram, as well as Humanitarian Assistance. The workshop was attended by key stakeholders in the region, particularly senior officers from the MNJTF Mission Headquarters and the Sectors, representatives of national commissions and focal points on small arms and DDR, as well as international partners.
Chad and Niger promise new life for the G5 Sahel despite the departure of Mali – Teller Report
Arrived Tuesday July 12 and left Wednesday July 13 in the evening, the president of Niger Mohamed Bazoum, was in Ndjamena for “a visit of work and friendship.
Chad and Niger promise new life for the G5 Sahel despite the departure of Mali.
President of the Chadian transition Mahamat Idriss Déby (right) and Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, during their joint press conference on July 13, 2022 in Ndjamena.
During a press conference held at the Chadian presidency on Wednesday July 13, he and his Chadian counterpart Mahamat Idriss Déby discussed at length the fight against terrorism in the region, Mali’s withdrawal from the G5 Sahel and the Chadian transition.
The Vice President of Cameroon’s Senate, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, has called on Anglophone separatist fighters in the Northwest and Southwest regions and Boko Haram terrorists in the Far North region to embrace peace overtures from President Paul Biya.
“Lay down your arms, take part in the peace offer and the policy of an extended hand of the head of state Paul Biya,” the Senate Vice President declared on Thursday, July 7.
Abdoulaye also condemned the criminal burning down of the Mamfe hospital in the Southwest region and Mada in the Far North region, the numerous killings of innocent civilians in Akwaya and several houses razed down.
Meanwhile, suspected Anglophone separatists killed the commander of the gendarmerie brigade in Mbiame, located in the Bui division of the Northwest region, on Friday, July 8.
Mali authories: 49 Ivory Coast soldiers arrested | Africanews
Malian authorities arrested nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast who came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali.
The government made the announcement Monday calling the Ivorian soldiers “mercenaries,” in a move that could raise tensions between the two West African countries.
Two aircraft arrived at Mali’s international airport Sunday with the 49 soldiers “with their weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment,” said Malian government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga.
They “were illegally on the national territory of Mali,” and the transitional government considers them mercenaries, he added.
U.N. mission spokesman Olivier Salgado said these Ivorian soldiers “are not part of one of the MINUSMA contingents, but have been deployed for several years in Mali as part of logistical support on behalf of one of our contingents.”
He said that their arrival as relief would have been communicated beforehand to the national authorities.
They are working for a German company that is contracted by the U.N. mission known as the Sahelian Aviation Services.
Maiga said they would put an end to the protection activity of the Sahelian Aviation Services by foreign forces and demand their departure from Malian territory.
Military Reprisals On Civilians Worsening Human Rights Abuse In Nigeria – HumAngle Media
Soldiers of the Nigerian Army on Sunday, June 26, killed a yet-to-be ascertained number of civilians in the Nko community of Yakurr Local Government Area (LGA), Cross River State, South-south Nigeria.
HumAngle reported that the soldiers were on a peacekeeping mission in response to a communal crisis between Nko and Onyadama, both in the Cross River Central Senatorial District, when one of their commanders was killed in Nko.
In retaliation, the soldiers killed at least 10 residents when they opened fire on the community. They also razed many homes, leading to the displacement of hundreds of persons.
The development, according to human rights activists, is a gross violation of International Humanitarian Law, to which Nigeria is a party. The Law says security forces must take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians and, unless circumstances do not permit it, provide effective advance warnings of attacks.
Ivory Coast army condemns detention of soldiers in Mali | Africanews
The government in Ivory Coast denied on Wednesday that 49 soldiers who were arrested at Mali’s international airport four days earlier posed a threat to the country.
“In Mali, those who are in power today are soliders, some of whom are special forces, Amadou Coulibaly, the Ivorian Minister of Communication, said after a weekly cabinet meeting. “They know how to overthrow a regime – it’s not (done by) tourists who arrive at the airport.”
On Tuesday, officials in Abidjan called on Mali to immediately release the soldiers who were arrested on Sunday at the international airport in Bamako, refuting accusations they were mercenaries.
Politicians Using Thugs To Frustrate Gubernatorial Poll In Southwest Nigeria State – HumAngle Media
Thugs, suspected to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), on Monday, July 11, attacked the home of Lasun Yusuf, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Osun State, Southwest Nigeria.
The incident was the latest of many that had been recorded since the preparation for the July 16 poll. Some of the attacks have been linked to the Osogbo branch chairman of NURTW, Kazeem Oyewale, popularly known as Asiri Eniba.
In addition to making millions from transport taxes being collected from drivers of commercial buses, tricycles, and motorcycles, one of the perks attached to holding key positions in NURTW is the ability to charge politicians to organise thugs who deter the electorate from actively participating in political processes.
This is despite the fact that election violence is punishable with up to four years imprisonment or a fine of ₦500,000 or both according to Nigeria’s Laws.
Analyst: the idea of mercenarism in Mali is tenable | Africanews
Analysts are now weighing in on the diplomatic row in west Africa following the arrest of Ivorian soldiers at Mali’s Bamako airport, accused of being “mercenaries” by the Malian authorities.
Dr. Aly Tounkara, Executive Director of the Centre for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel and political analyst reflects on the situation.
“According to the first factual elements given by the State of Mali, the idea of mercenarism is tenable. But at the same time, when one also considers societal aspects, the idea of old habits remains tenable as a hypothesis: that these are people who have always been deployed without the state of Mali being informed,” said Tounkara.
He added, “the second hypothesis, which is also to be taken into account at this stage, is that the military elite in power would seek not only to have effective control over all the security elements operating on Malian territory but its also a way for the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the political-military elite in power to establish their legitimacy in the eyes of the public, in terms of their ability to deal with threats, whatever their nature.”
Ivory Coast on Tuesday called on Mali to release 49 of its soldiers “unjustly” detained at Bamako airport and accused by officials of being mercenaries.
Humanitarian
Nigeria’s troubled northwest battles child malnutrition | Africanews
Four years ago, gunmen attacked Halima Musa’s village in northwestern Nigeria, killing her husband and the oldest of their seven children.
The family fled to the safety of a camp for displaced people, but now they are hungry, she said.
“It’s been more than one year since the government brought us food items,” she said from Sokoto camp.
It’s 2 p.m. and she’s preparing the family’s first and only meal for the day. She’s not sure where she’ll find food the next day. “I and my children are usually begging,” she said.
Northwest Nigeria’s escalating violence has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Many, like Musa, are sheltering in camps that often have inadequate food.
IDPs Face Water, Food Scarcity Despite Intervention – HumAngle Media
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Gubio camp located in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in the Northeast of Nigeria, face sanitation challenges and lament food scarcity, despite the government’s food aid intervention last month.
When the state’s emergency management agency made its first food distribution in the camp in nearly a year, however, the quantity of food distributed, which comprised 400 bags of maize and a hundred bags of beans, was considered inadequate compared to the camp’s population of 4,419 households.
“For God’s sake, how could anyone think that the 500 bags of maize and beans that were distributed to the entire population in the camp would last beyond a day,” said Babagana Tijjani, an IDP from Gamboru-Ngala local government area in central Borno.
He laments that each household got a bowl of grains and a household composed of at least six persons. According to Tijjani, since then, they have not received aid support either from the state government or the NGOs,”.
The UN humanitarian partners have delivered food and nutrition assistance to no fewer than 26,000 people in the past week in the town of Rann, Northeast Nigeria.
The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Deputy Spokesman for the UN Farhan Haq disclosed this at a news conference at UN headquarters, New York on Wednesday.
According to Mr Haq, Rann is one of the most challenging environments for aid workers in the region.
He said it was the site of repeated attacks by non-state armed groups during which hundreds of civilians, internally displaced people as well as aid workers were killed.
“Humanitarian agencies have been forced to reduce their footprint there in recent years.
“For example, a major international health partner suspended its work in Rann in June following the heightened risk of attacks targeting civilians and aid assets.
“With the lean season now underway, some 4.1 million people urgently need food assistance across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe in northeast Nigeria,’’ Mr Haq said.
He, however, said that due to funding shortages, only about 1.2 million people there were receiving food aid as of the end of May.
He said aid agencies had reached some 1.8 million people during the first quarter of 2022.
Kuje Prison Attack: Where Were The Security Forces? – PRNigeria News
Again, another national security breach was recorded at the Kuje Prison, recently. The gruesome attack was masterminded by terrorists who have sneaked and found their way into the nation’s capital city.
Last Tuesday was a black day for Nigeria. First, it was the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Aminu Umar who got killed during an encounter with bandits in Safana forest of Katsina axis. The late police officer was tagged as ‘God of Dutsin-Ma’ due to his commitment and gallantry in safeguarding the lives and properties of people against the menace of bandits around Dutsin-Ma where he served as Area Commander.
Still in Katsina, report had it that the Presidential Guards Advance Team was also attacked by the bandit-terrorists where a handful number of security officers attached to the convoy paid the supreme price with their lives.
On Aug. 25, 2020, when Nigeria was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO), many people, especially those in the health sector, rejoiced because it was a huge milestone; years of hard work eventually paid off. So, attention focused on the availability of vaccines, with little given to community engagement and mobilisation as well as enlightenment and sensitisation. But this was later championed by the Ward Development Committees (WDC) at community levels.
According to Nigeria’s Health Promotion Policy, the WDC was designed and developed as a social strategy for encouraging community participation and access to primary healthcare services like routine immunisation. It is a group made up of religious, traditional leaders and other prominent people across the communities that make up the ward.
“We sit with them. The health discussion we have is about health common to children; that they will need to be attended to in the hospital. Not when a child has a headache, then you’ll be given paracetamol, or when he has a tummy ache, he’ll be given Flagyl. He ought to be taken to the hospital. Secondly, if your wife is pregnant, you should try and take her to the hospital. In the hospital, she’ll be tested,” Bukar told HumAngle.
Malnutrition Threatens Lives Of Children In Northwest Nigeria – MSF – HumAngle Media
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) fears that the high number of malnourished children unfolding in Northwest Nigeria would soon become untenable without increased life-saving humanitarian support.
The international charity organisation warned that the international community has largely ignored the Northwest humanitarian crisis despite the region fueling the fastest-growing displacement crisis in the country.
A statement released on Thursday, July 7, signed by Michel-Olivier Lacharite, Head of MSF Emergency Operations, revealed that despite calls in recent months to both humanitarian organisations and authorities to scale up medical activities, “we have not seen the mobilisation needed to avert a devastating nutrition crisis.”
Since January, the MSF team working in partnership with Nigerian health authorities has already treated more than 50,000 children with acute malnutrition, including 7,000 who required hospital care in five Northwestern states.
The charity also said it is also getting ready to treat up to 100,000 malnourished children this year in its nutrition programme in Katsina State alone, and also expanding its response in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kano states.
It said the high number of malnourished children signifies that the hunger gap has begun “and the peak of malaria transmission which would further deteriorate the health and nutritional status of children is yet to come.”
“Acknowledging the acute needs of these children is long overdue, and we strongly urge making lifesaving support a priority now,” Lacharite said.
To tackle the worsening cases of child malnutrition and related ailment, MSF said it had to, in June, conduct a screening of more than 36,000 children under five years old, following a nutrition alert in the area of Gummi, Zamfara state.
Stabilization and economic development
Africa seeks private sector funding for ocean climate action | Africanews
Countries on Africa’s east coast are increasingly turning to climate funding initiatives to boost livelihoods of oceanside communities, aid biodiversity and take climate action.
On the margins of the high-level political forum on sustainable development currently underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York, African coastal and island states and conservation groups outlined plans to boost ocean conservation and economic development through a system of ” blue bonds” a method of financing projects that would also benefit ocean health.
Following on from Africa’s Great Green Wall, which spans the continent’s Sahel region, east African nations are now seeking funds for the Great Blue Wall initiative, which aims to protect marine areas across the coastline.
Both blue and green finance refers to funding aimed at preventing environmental damage and combating climate change while creating sustainable ecosystems.
“The blue bond is a powerful example of the critical role that the capital markets can play in supporting sustainable objectives,” said Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank.
The Great Blue Wall initiative, launched last year by ten western Indian Ocean states during the U.N.’s climate conference in Glasgow, aims to create a network of coastal and marine protected areas which supporters say would restore and conserve some 2 million hectares of ocean, capture 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and secure livelihoods for over 70 million people.
Half-way toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is at a point where instead of working towards closing the gender equity gap, decades of progress are being rolled back, with women’s fundamental rights and health under threat.
These reversals are being exacerbated by COVID-19 and other compounding crises, such as increasing incidences of conflict and the climate emergency. They come at a time when the world was just starting to see decades of hard-earned labour and effort bear fruit, with the number of girls in education increasing, maternal mortality rates falling, and child marriages and deaths decreasing.
The United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF), currently underway in New York, is a critical opportunity to reflect on progress made to date and agree on a way forward to tackle the significant risks being faced at this midway juncture.
This Wednesday, July, 13, 2022, an official side-event to the HLPF, Choice, Voice and Autonomy: Women’s political leadership for health in a fragile world, was jointly organized by PMNCH, Women in Global Health, UHC2030 and Global Health 50/50, and hosted by the Government of Estonia. The virtual leadership dialogue has brought together global policymakers, government representatives, business leaders, health care providers, youth and community representatives from around the world. They have reflected on the importance of women leaders in making a difference on social progress via gender equity in the context of health and education to deliver the Sustainable Development Agenda.
