Connect with us

Musings From Abroad

Sudan’s Darfur now ravaged by famine— Experts

Published

on

A committee of food security experts has stated that the fighting in Sudan and limitations on relief delivery have resulted in famine in at least one location in North Darfur and have probably generated famine conditions in other sections of the conflict region.

This discovery, which is connected to the widely accepted Integrated Food Security Phase categorization (IPC) system, is only the third famine categorization since the system’s establishment two decades prior. It demonstrates how the world’s largest internal displacement crisis has been brought about by over 15 months of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving 25 million people, or half of the country’s population, in dire need of humanitarian aid. Starvation and disease are wreaking havoc in Sudan.

A famine designation, according to experts and United Nations officials, might result in a resolution by the Security Council allowing organizations to provide aid to those in need across international borders.

The Zamzam camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in North Darfur was reportedly suffering famine, which is defined as the achievement of acute malnutrition and mortality requirements, according to the Famine Review Committee’s (FRC) assessment, opens new tab. It is anticipated that the IDPs will stay there at least through October.

In Zamzam, there are 500,000 residents. The city is located near al-Fashir, the final significant RSF stronghold in Darfur, which is home to 1.8 million people. The location has been under siege by the RSF for months, and no supplies have arrived at the big camp.

According to the FRC, conflict and extremely restricted humanitarian access are the main causes of starvation in the Zamzam camp.

It was stated that there was a chance that comparable circumstances were present in other parts of Darfur, such as the camps for internally displaced people at Abu Shouk and Al Salam.

An IPC process headed by the Sudanese government concluded in late June that famine was a possibility in 14 regions of the nation, including sections of El Gezira, Kordofan, and Khartoum states.

The charity Islamic Relief said in a statement on Thursday that it was seeing an increase in the number of children in Darfur and other parts of Sudan who needed medical attention in clinics. “It is not too late for them, but time is running out,” it continued.

According to reports by Reuters, some Sudanese people have been made to eat only leaves and dirt, and satellite images indicate that as disease and starvation spread, graves are rapidly growing.

In Darfur, 14 burial places have grown significantly in recent months, according to a Reuters examination of satellite photos. Between March 28 and May 3, one cemetery in Zamzam had a 50% growth rate more than it did in the three and a half months prior. The analysis was utilized by the FRC as oblique proof of rising mortality.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

on

 

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

Continue Reading

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

on

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.

Continue Reading

EDITOR’S PICK

Tech42 minutes ago

Ghana partners with The Gambia to provide free roaming services

Ghana and The Gambia are in the process of launching free roaming services that will enhance a West African connectivity....

Metro50 minutes ago

Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF)...

Sports55 minutes ago

Ghanaian winger Fatawu out for season with ACL injury

Ghana and Leicester City winger, Abdul Fatawu, has been ruled out of the rest of the EPL season after suffering...

Culture59 minutes ago

DRC authorities arrest six over break-in at Lumumba’s Mausoleum

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say six people have been arrested over a break-in and vandalism at...

Musings From Abroad5 hours ago

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

  Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court...

Metro7 hours ago

Nigerian Senate confirms influx of terrorists from Mali, Burkina Faso into the country 

The Nigerian Senate has raised the alarm over the influx of terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso who operate in...

Tech1 day ago

Tanzania to host 6th Ocean Innovation Africa summit in February

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has been selected to host the sixth edition of the Ocean Innovation Africa (OIA) summit from...

Culture1 day ago

Miss SA opens up on why she withdrew from Miss Universe pageant

Reigning Miss South Africa 2024, Mia le Roux, has opened up on the reasons behind her withdrawal from the Miss...

Sports1 day ago

SA football legend Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe passes away

South African football legend, Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe, has passed away at the age of 71 after a long battle with...

Metro1 day ago

Wanted Zambian MP who escaped from prison custody captured in Harare

A fugitive Zambian Member of Parliament (MP), Emmanuel Banda, who escaped from custody at the Chipata Prison in Eastern Province...

Trending