KABUL, 24 May 2013 – I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack centred on a compound of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in central Kabul.

Three IOM staff members were injured, one seriously. A staff member from the International Labour Organization was also injured. All are now receiving medical attention.

All United Nations staff members in the capital have been accounted for.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility, alleging that their target was a “military rest house.”

The suspension comes after 12 deminers were taken hostage by fighters with the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance on 3 May.

Getting humanitarian supplies into conflict zones like Syria is no mean feat, often requiring negotiations with warring parties, braving insecurity and facing logistical challenges. But aid workers can it happen.

by Heather Murdock

ABUJA — Aid organization Doctors Without Borders says it has suspended emergency health care in Borno State, Nigeria, - the heart of an insurgency now under assault by government troops. The decision comes after five gunmen hijacked an aid vehicle on Saturday.

A couple of weeks ago, Doctors without Borders moved into Baga, a town where thousands of homes were burnt to the ground and hundreds of people were killed in April. Since then, the organization says it has been treating 80 patients a day, half of them children.

22/05/2013 – SOS Children’s Villages has launched an urgent appeal to all parties involved in the on-going war in Syria and stakeholders in neighbouring countries: Keep your hands off the SOS Children’s Village in Damascus! The SOS Children’s Village situated in western Damascus (33°33'32.61" N, 36°12'29.97" E) has been in the line of fire on several occasions. Over one hundred children, 20 SOS mothers and 30 support staff live there.

The crisis in Syria seems unending at the moment. Meeting the humanitarian needs in the country is one of the largest challenges owing to the insecurity in particular. And as the battles go on, the needs just get bigger and bigger.

Armed men in hospitals, harassing patients; health facilities used to identify and apprehend enemies; clinics abandoned and hospitals destroyed. Overwhelmed emergency services, where medical staff are in terror of reprisals for having provided care for a patient; ambulances blocked from accessing the wounded, or held up for hours at checkpoints; entrenched animosities and divisions denying certain groups of people the medical assistance they need.

Au menu:

· Tchad : ouverture d'un sommet sur le développement durable, la pauvreté et le climat (AFP, 11/05/13)

· Le Tchadien Djimet Adoum nommé secrétaire exécutif du CILSS (AFP, 13/05/13)

· Canada provides emergency assistance for refugees and displaced in eastern Chad (CIDA, 13/05/13)

· Nigeria declares 'massive' military campaign on borders (BBC, 15/05/13)

· Greening: We must break the cycle of food shortages in Western Africa (DFID, 15/05/13)

· UN envoy says CAR in 'state of anarchy' (Al Jazeera, 16/05/13)

Genève (CICR) – Un nouveau rapport publié par le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) sur la violence contre les soins de santé révèle que pas moins de 921 incidents violents impliquant des membres du personnel médical, des structures de santé ou des malades et des blessés ont eu lieu en 2012.