Category: General

NAIROBI— Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol has expressed concern over the ravaging drought in pastoralist inhabited areas of Northern Kenya and called on the international community to urgently make interventions to mitigate the situation.

Speaking during a tour of Moyale Sub-county in Marsabit County where the organization is implementing a capacity-building project for farmers in a bid to make them resilient to the harsh climatic conditions, Bechdol was shocked by the state of affairs and called for a joint effort to reverse the trend.

She pointed out that the challenges faced by the pastoralist communities were unacceptable which called for new ways to address the situation to be devised as opposed to just availing resources.

The director-general who was accompanied by the Chief Administrative Secretary for Devolution Abdul Bahari and the UN country representative Stephen Jackson expressed concern that the situation was getting out of hand with the pastoralists getting overwhelmed.

She said that effectively addressing the climate change-driven challenges required renewed methodologies and a collaborative approach to the problem by all actors.

In his remarks, a similarly stunned Jackson noted that the drought situation was out of the ordinary with virtually all livestock farmers losing livestock which is their main source of livelihood.

He said that the government both at the county and national level had done much of what was expected but the condition was now more dire amidst scarce resources hence the need to pull resources to avert loss of lives.

Jackson added that interventions by UN-affiliated bodies like FAO, WFP and UNICEF as well as other organizations had managed to fund half of the appeals made hence the urgent need to revise the assistance upwards.

He cautioned that unless prompt measures are taken, the possibility of starvation and loss of lives was inevitable.

FAO is currently providing vulnerable households in the Adeso area of Moyale with enriched animal feeds with each beneficiary receiving 150 kilograms of pellets.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Rights groups have criticized the European Union for lifting sanctions Tuesday against Burundi for what the EU said was progress on human rights, good governance, and the rule of law. The EU action follows the U.S. lifting sanctions in November. Rights groups say Burundi authorities continue to commit abuses, including against political dissidents.

The European Union is bringing the Burundi government into its political and economic system after being in the cold for at least six years.

The European body said it was convinced political progress had been made in the central African country.

In a statement, it said it acknowledges the progress made by the Burundian government on human rights issues, rule of law and good governance and wants to do more to improve its rights and governance record.

The decision to lift the sanctions has angered human rights groups.

Mausi Segun is the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division.

“It’s unfortunately premature. Nothing on the ground in Burundi gives any foundation or basis for lifting the sanctions … The EU and others like that institution are too much in haste to give credit to the government of Burundi when the victims of abuses and vicious crimes in Burundi deserve a lot more from the international community,” said Segun.

The EU follows the U.S., which lifted sanctions imposed on Burundi in 2015, when the country witnessed protests against then-Pierre Nkurunziza.

In stopping the protest Burundi security forces were accused of committing widespread rights violations against opponents and opposition groups.

The lifting of the sanctions is guided by the 2020 political transition from late President Nkurunziza to the current leader, Evariste Ndayishimiye.

When taking office in June 2020 President Ndayishimiye pledged to unite the country and deliver peace and justice to all.

Segun says the human rights situation has remained the same under the new government.

“The killings, the disappearances of people suspected by the government of working with the opposition or with so called rebel groups,” said Segun. “All of this continues to happen in the last one and half years that Ndayishimiye has been in office. We have seen hundreds of these types of cases, hundreds of cases of Burundians who have been killed unlawfully in that country and the disappearances of many more.”

In September 2021, a U.N. commission of inquiry on Burundi tasked to document human rights violations said, under Ndayishimiye’s government, no reforms have been undertaken to improve the human rights situation.

Carina Tertsakian works with the Burundi Human Rights Initiative. She says the European Union can use the newfound engagement with Burundi to address the abuses and killings.

“Now with this more positive climate between the EU and Burundi that can be an incentive for the Burundian government to take some concrete actions to reform and to improve the human rights situation that in my view will only happen if the European Union on its side continues raising these concerns,” said Carina. “There is an ongoing political dialogue between the EU and Burundi and that’s a very good opportunity to continue asking the Burundian government to address these issues.”

Human Rights Watch is calling on those responsible for human rights violations and abuses, whether in government or the ruling party youth wing accountable for the abuses, and the international community, to pay attention to what is happening in Burundi.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N. human rights office says it fears heightened tension between Hema herders and Lendu farmers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo may erupt into more violence following last week’s deadly attacks.

At least 62 internally displaced members of the Hema ethnic community were killed and 38 injured when their camp was attacked by an armed group last week. Fighters from CODECO, the Cooperative for the Development of Congo, staged a night-time raid on the Plaine Savo IDP camp in DR Congo’s Ituri province.

The attack, which took place February 1, is only the latest in a string of devastating assaults on IDP sites by CODECO, which is mainly composed of Lendu farmers.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssel says all the victims in the camp of 24,000 people were either shot or attacked with machetes and knives.

“It is already on vulnerable people. It is IDPs. It is people who are in camps. So, of course it is creating fears, tension. It is leading to people fleeing from the violence. Following deadly attacks last week and further attempts over the weekend, there is significant risk that other IDP sites could be attacked as well,” Throssel said.

U.N. officials note ethnic tensions between the Hema and Lendu communities have existed for years. Last year, the U.N. agency documented 10 attacks on IDP sites in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. In all, it says at least 106 people were killed, 16 injured and some seven women subjected to sexual violence.

The human rights agency is calling on DRC authorities to immediately strengthen the protection of civilians in the troubled areas. It says they must ensure the safety and security of people who have sought refuge from violent inter-ethnic attacks in IDP camps.

Military authorities in the region have launched a preliminary investigation into the recent onslaughts. U.N. officials say the investigation must be independent, effective, and transparent, and perpetrators must be brought to justice.

Source: Voice of America

Drought conditions have left an estimated 13 million people facing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa, according to the United Nations World Food Program.

People in a region including Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya face the driest conditions recorded since 1981, the agency reported Tuesday, calling for immediate assistance to forestall a major humanitarian crisis.

Drought conditions are affecting pastoral and farming communities across southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, south-eastern and northern Kenya, and south-central Somalia. Malnutrition rates are high in the region

WFP said it needs $327 million to look after the urgent needs of 4.5 million people over the next six months and help communities become more resilient to extreme climate shocks.

“Three consecutive failed rainy seasons have decimated crops and caused abnormally high livestock deaths,” it said in a statement. “Shortages of water and pasture are forcing families from their homes and leading to increased conflict between communities.”

More forecasts of below-average rainfall threaten to worsen conditions in the coming months, it said.

Others have raised alarm over a fragile region that also faces sporadic armed violence.

The U.N. children’s agency said earlier in February that more than 6 million people in Ethiopia are expected to need urgent humanitarian aid by mid-March. In neighboring Somalia, more than 7 million people need urgent help, according to the Somali NGO Consortium.

Source: Voice of America