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Refugee numbers soaring as violence continues

Seasonal rains due in Sudan and South Sudan will exacerbate already dire conditions in refugee camps, restrict travel and access, and heighten the risk of disease, a group of leading humanitarian agencies warned today. The rains, which in some places have already started, will make many roads impassable, trapping people in unstable areas and deepening the current hunger crisis.

Human beings have a remarkable capacity to endure suffering. And perhaps nowhere in the world is this capacity more thoroughly tested than in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There is news today that more than 20,000 people have fled their homes in eastern Congo during the past few weeks. Last month, Congolese President Joseph Kabila announced he would try to arrest one of his generals, Bosco Ntaganda. Ntaganda is a former rebel commander who has been accused by the International Criminal Court of committing war crimes.

May 02, 2012 | Sarnata Reynolds | Tagged as: Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Humanitarian Response, Protection & Security, Statelessness The recent conflict between Sudan and South Sudan has seen civilians in border areas subjected to brutal attacks by both sides. However, as I found while in South Sudan last week, the impact of this conflict goes far beyond the disputed areas of Heglig or Abyei, threatening many more lives.

This article originally appeared in The Guardian.

By Melanie Teff

Over the past few weeks, Kenyan government ministers have made persistent calls for the country's Somali refugees to be "resettled" inside Somalia. These calls echo the sentiments of President Mwai Kibaki, who said at February's London conference on Somalia: "Kenya can no longer continue carrying the burden."

Last week, my colleague Erin Weir and I travelled to Kalehe territory in South Kivu. In the village of Kambali, we spoke to host families and displaced people who fled fighting in January between two armed groups: the Raia Mutomboki and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

by Kristen Cordell

Stability in Libya depends on the ability of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and its international partners to effectively demobilize thousands of young men and women who participated in the armed revolution.

Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes are one of the earliest and most important steps in any successful transition towards peace. But such processes have to be inclusive, bringing together not only men but also female fighters and women who helped combatants in the field.

Senior Advocate Peter Orr and I are in North Kivu Province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This is my fifth visit to the area since I began working for Refugees International in 2007, and in that time there have been a lot of changes.

There have been shifting conflict dynamics and alliances amongst armed groups and the government, new aid efforts to respond better to humanitarian needs, and innovations in the way UN peacekeepers interact with communities to keep people safe.