News and Press Release

Maps and updates related to this term.

884 updates found
Toggle text

Scant food,spreading sickness: Chechen refugees face disaster

by Arbi Arbiyev

KARABULAK, Russia, Jan 1 (AFP) - Nearly 30,000 refugees from Chechnya are living in desperate conditions under canvas just across the border from their war-torn homeland, without warm food or proper sanitary facilities, and amid spreading disease.

It's their second bitter winter under mouldy tents, and they're longing for home, no matter how battered or bruised they find it when they get back.

These makeshift camps in Ingushetia across the border from the breakaway southern Russian republic of Chechnya are close to humanitarian disaster, local officials say.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

Armenia + 1 other
Azerbaijani president says resolving Nagorno-Karabakh main task

BAKU, Jan 1 (AFP) - Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev said Monday that resolving the dispute between Baku and Yerevan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh was his country's most important task.

"We are making every effort to solve this problem, as a result of which about a million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenia," he said in a televised New Year's address.

The president added that he was sure that Azerbaijan would recover the territory and the refugees would be able to return home.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

Shots fired, bombs explode as riot-hit Ambon enters new year

JAKARTA, Jan 1 (AFP) - Volleys of shots were fired and the blast of home-made bombs was heard on New Year's Eve in the violence-ravaged Indonesian city of Ambon in the Maluku islands, a report said Monday.

The shots and the blasts erupted from various quarters in the city a few minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve and lasted for more than an hour but there were no reports of any injured, the state Antara news agency said.

People were firing to mark the arrival of the New Year and were not aiming at buildings or people, Antara said.

Security personnel were deployed in all

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

Turkey + 1 other
CWS Hotline - Week of 01/01/2001

Turkey - CWS has sent an additional $65,000 to the United Church Board of World Ministries for continuing earthquake rehabilitation work in Turkey. Two earthquakes that hit Turkey last year, in August and November, killed more than 18,000 people and destroyed modern concrete housing units. As a member of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) international network, CWS provided blankets, "Gift of the Heart" Health and Baby Kits and health supplies, which were distributed among survivors of last year's earthquakes.
U.S. Winter Ice Storm - Large
Toggle text

Sierra Leone: The experience of former child soldiers (demobilised children)

Kidnapped: They have been captivated during the several attacks on the villages launched by the rebels throughout the war started in 1991. Attacks made in order to destabilise the government and to punish the civilians whose only alleged guilt had been not to revolt against what the rebels considered a corrupt government. Onslaughts went hand in hand with the worst atrocities (houses were looted and burnt, people mutilated, killed, raped), and torn families apart. The rebels kidnapped thousands of children, maybe 10.000 since the beginning of the war. The
Toggle text

Coopi's answer to child soldier's emergency - Let's not abandon the children of Sierra Leone- A complex task: from shelter to reintegration

A civil war has been going on in Sierra Leone since 1991. A war triggered off by the economic interests in the rich diamond mines in the northern part of the country. In order to destabilise what they consider a corrupt government and in order to get control of the mines, the rebels, led by Foday Sankoh, carry brutal onslaughts on villages, plundering them, reducing their children to slavery or forcing them to become soldiers. The difficult and fragile peace process which has started in July 1999, is leading to the liberation of hundreds of these
Toggle text

Samaritan's purse update: Sudan

Samaritan's Purse has been working in Sudan since 1993. In a part of Africa infamous for persecution and desolation, we have developed extensive ministries to thousands suffering from the ongoing civil war. Following is a summary of these ministries:
MEDICAL RELIEF

About 200,000 patients have been treated and thousands of lives saved at the Lui Hospital, operated by Samaritan's Purse since 1997, and at the Akot Clinic, opened in 1999. International doctors who volunteer with World Medical Mission (the medical arm of Samaritan's

Toggle text

Congo: Sassou Nguesso confirme la tenue du dialogue national

Brazzaville, Congo - Le président Denis Sassou Nguesso du Congo a annoncé dimanche, dans son discours de fin d'année, que "le dialogue national s'ouvrira bientôt sous l'égide du gouvernement congolais et du médiateur international, le président gabonais Omar Bongo".
Pour M. Sassou Nguesso, ce dialogue national doit être ouvert à toutes les couches de la société congolaise et non seulement, aux protagonistes des récentes guerres civiles.

"Vaste espace de concertation, le dialogue national qui se veut sans exclusive, parce qu'ouvert à l'ensemble

Pan African News Agency:

Copyright

All PANA content and graphics is protected by copyright and international treaties and may not be copied, reproduced or re-used for any purpose without written permission.

Toggle text

Angola: UNITA abducts nine, kills three, claim Namibian villagers

WINDHOEK, Dec 31 (AFP) - Two Namibian nationals have said that UNITA rebels abducted and tortured them and seven other villagers, killing three, a human rights organisation said Sunday.

Daniel Ndeluudila, 54, and Simeon Hamulo, 23, told the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) that they and the other villagers were abducted on December 25 in northeast Namibia and taken across the border into Angola.

They claimed their captors were a group of between 50 and 100 rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

Congolese authorities fear signs of a return to war

BRAZZAVILLE, Dec 31 (AFP) - Official radio in Congo warned Sunday of troubling signs of a return to war in central Congo where rebels still hold sway despite ceasefire accords signed a year ago.

Radio Congo said security forces were unable to control a majority of villages in Niari, a stronghold of ousted president Pascal Lissouba.

"Out of 14 cities in Niari, 11 are beyond public control. This situation is creating a stray impulse for a return to war," the radio said.

But the official broadcast stopped short

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

11 des 14 villes du Niari échappent au contrôle de Brazzaville

Brazzaville, Congo - 11 des 14 villes du Niari dans le sud du Congo et fief de l'ancien président déchu Pascal Lissouba, échappent au contrôle des troupes gouvernementales, a annoncé dimanche à Brazzaville, un journaliste de la radio officielle, Raph Lomat Ekémi, qui vient de séjourner dans la région.
Selon M. Ekémi, les forces d'autodéfense de la résistance (FADER), aile armée du Conseil national de la résistance (CNR) ont installé leur quartier général à Mossendjo, deuxième ville du Niari, située à 150 km de la frontière gabonaise.

Il n'a cependant pas précisé si la ville

Pan African News Agency:

Copyright

All PANA content and graphics is protected by copyright and international treaties and may not be copied, reproduced or re-used for any purpose without written permission.

Toggle text

Eritrea + 1 other
Red Cross Repatriates 641 More Ethiopians From Eritrea

Addis Ababa - An additional 641 Ethiopian civilians were repatriated Saturday from Eritrea, bringing the total number returned home within a week under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to 2,055.
They were transferred from Adi Abeto detention camp near Asmara and taken to the Ethiopian border town of Rama, via the Mereb River crossing point, the ICRC said in a press release Sunday.

It added that Ethiopian and Eritrea red cross volunteers assisted in the operation.

In a similar operation 23 December, 1,414

Pan African News Agency:

Copyright

All PANA content and graphics is protected by copyright and international treaties and may not be copied, reproduced or re-used for any purpose without written permission.

Toggle text

Popocatepetl emitting constant flow of steam, ash

MEXICO CITY, Dec 31 (AFP) - The Mexican volcano Popocatepetl began to emit a constant stream of steam and ash early Sunday, according to the national disaster prevention center Cenapred.

The snow-capped volcano, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the native Nahuatl language, erupted briefly late Saturday and was stable before beginning again early the next morning, according to a Cenapred report.

Early Sunday, Popocatepetl, located 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the capital began to emit a constant stream of water vapor and ash, the center said.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

Displaced Eritreans Hope Peace Agreement Will Allow Them To Return Home

Asmara, Eritrea - Aregash Kebede and Bereket Berhan are ready to go home. They are among the 300,000 Eritreans still living in camps months after fleeing the brutal border war between their country and Ethiopia. Both hope the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers will bring closer their dream of returning to a normal life.
Troops from two dozen countries will enforce the peace agreement Eritrea and Ethiopia signed 12 December in Algiers. Deployment of the first contingents to arrive, from the Netherlands and Canada, began a week earlier.

Kebede, 22, bides her time in Alba, a

Toggle text

Eritrea + 5 others
OAU chief foresees new beginning for Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 31 (AFP) - Organisation of African Unity Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim has expressed confidence that the new year will usher in a fresh beginning for the African continent.
"I remain confident and optimistic over the prospects for a new beginning for our continent in the new century," Salim said in an address late Saturday to mark the end of the year.

"I am looking forward to that new beginning in which good governance, respect for human rights and a consolidation of the democratization process will prevail in Africa," he said.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Toggle text

New flood threat for battered Mozambique

MORE than 150 000 Mozambicans - mostly peasant farmers - are facing devastating floods for the second time in 11 months following the opening of sluice gates on the Kariba Dam in neighbouring Zambia.

Mozambique is still recovering from massive floods in February and March, which killed 700, destroyed the homes or livelihoods of more than 10% of the country's 19 million people and did about $1bn in damage, according to World Bank figures.

The newly affected people, who live on the banks of the Zambezi river in three central Mozambican districts, also

Toggle text

Serbia + 1 other
Kosovo's «Polio First» campaign: Slow Start, Positive Outcome

From Health in Emergencies Issue 8
Kosovo's «Polio First» campaign for 2000 got off to a bad start. Originally scheduled to begin in April, it was postponed until September because an outbreak of tularaemia over the winter waylaid many of the main players in the campaign. Five months later everything should have been in place, but as can often happen, many details still had to be fixed in the first couple of days of the first round. Vaccines
Toggle text

Afghanistan + 5 others
Surveillance in Emergency-affected Countries


From Health in Emergencies Issue 8
The establishment of high quality, functioning acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance - a critical step to polio elimination - is possible in countries affected by emergencies, as shown in the examples of Afghanistan, Angola and Somalia.

Toggle text

Progress in DPR Korea

From Health in Emergencies Issue 8
As part of the global polio eradication campaign, national immunisation days (NID) were conducted on 20 October and 20 November. This is the fourth round of NIDs in the country, organised by the Government with assistance from WHO and UNICEF. About 2.2 million children less than 5 years old throughout country were immunized with the polio vaccine. A total of 12,000 immunisation posts in Ri (the smallest
Toggle text

Afghanistan + 12 others
Health in Emergencies Issue 8, Dec 2000


Health, Peace and Humanitarian Cease-fires
by Jon M. Ebersole

Militarised violence presents what is perhaps the most vexing challenge to the achievement of the goal of health for all. While not a member of the UN’s Executive Committee on Peace and Security, WHO is nonetheless positioned to play a crucial peacemaking role in some of the world’s most difficult trouble spots.