Testimony, Donald Y. Yamamoto
Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs
Opening Statement
Washington, DC
May 21, 2013

[Before the House Subcommittees on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights; International Organizations; Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade; Middle East and North Africa]

CAIRO, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - Until government and revolutionary forces attacked the Libyan town of Bani Walid, about 170km southeast of the capital Tripoli in October last year, Abdullah Warfella had been determined never to leave.

But after two weeks of imprisonment and torture, the 68-year-old former contractor fled.

"They accused me of supporting [former ruler Muammar] Gaddafi during the revolution, which is not true at all," Warfella told IRIN in Cairo. "These people have turned life into hell for people, not just in Bani Walid, but everywhere in Libya."

(Tunis, May 13, 2013) – Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly (NCA) should modify articles in the new draft constitution that threaten human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch analyzed the draft constitution to identify human rights concerns.

HIGHLIGHTS

• A 7.8 earthquake hit South-Eastern Iran on 16 April, close to the border with Pakistan. The impact was felt in both countries, with 14 people killed, 73 injured and two missing.

• New and worsening humanitarian crises since 2011 have led to a considerable increase in CERF allocations to the MENA region. The largest recipients have been Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.

Overview

The North Africa region, made up of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, is economically and demographically diverse. These five middle income countries were generally on track in 2010 to achieving the health Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target by 2015, even if facing significant rural and urban disparities and gaps in coverage.

This month’s Conflict Trends report is the latest in series of ACLED reports which provide an overview and analysis of real-time conflict in Africa.

February witnessed the run-up to the muchanticipated elections in Kenya, for which ACLED produced detailed, real-time and daily coverage and analysis at kenya.acleddata.com. This month’s report provides an overview of this content. At the time of writing, election results had not yet been announced, and the outcome - for Kenya and its political future - was far from certain.

Executive summary

UNHCR’s 2011 emergency operation in North Africa, which followed the outbreak of civil war in Libya, addressed one of the largest mixed migration crises that the organization has ever encountered. The unanticipated emergency generated a massive influx of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia and Egypt, two countries which themselves had only recently experienced major political upheavals. As a result of these considerations, little contingency planning had taken place.

This document provides an overview of developments in the Mediterranean Basin and other regions of interest from 19 March – 01 April 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

In Focus 1

North Africa 2

Northeast Africa 4

Horn of Africa 5

By Alberto Pradilla

TUNIS, Mar 31 2013 (IPS) - “We need a solution. The U.N. has created the problem, and they should do their work and fix it,” says Bright, a young Nigerian stuck in the Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia, a few kilometres from the Libyan border.