Operation Highlights

Somalia is the country generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq. UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting 700,000 IDPs out of a total IDP population estimated at 1.1 million and over 2,300 refugees in Somalia.

This document provides an overview of developments in the Mediterranean Basin and other regions of interest from 30 April - 13 May 2013, with hyperlinks to source material highlighted and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to the region, please contact the members of the Med Basin Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

North Africa 1
Northeast Africa 4
Horn of Africa 5

GENEVA (14 May 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, today called on the international community to keep Eritrea under close scrutiny until meaningful change is evident in the country.

Refugee Update

Widespread and well above-average amounts of March to May rains fell in East Africa

KEY MESSAGES

Agordat, 9 May 2013 – The inhabitants of 12 Administrative areas in Agordat sub-zone are reportedly engaged in soil and water conservation undertakings with a view to restoring erosion-hit areas.

Mr. Eyasu Haile, head of economic development in the sub-zone, disclosed that the community venture is aimed at raising plant production output through the preparation of a total of 2,000 hectares, in the process of which farmlands of families of martyrs have been prioritized. He further called on farmers to finalize their preparations to this end before the onset of the rainy season.

Twenty years after its independence, Eritrea’s prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners, locked up without ever being charged with a crime, many of whom are never heard from again, Amnesty International said in a report released today.

Mendefera, 2 May 2013 – The Agriculture Ministry’s branch in the Southern region indicated that the inhabitants of 15 Administrative areas of Mendefera sub-zone are engaged in soil and water conservation campaign through integrating their labor and financial resources.

The Global Overview collates information from a range of sources and displays it in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises.