Saturday, July 27News That Matters

Tag: United Nations

Rwandan Genocide Suspect Kabuga to be Extradited to The Hague

Rwandan Genocide Suspect Kabuga to be Extradited to The Hague

FEATURED, Latest News, Rwanda
A UN judge on Wednesday ruled that Rwandan genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga, who has been in a French jail since May, should be sent to a detention unit in The Hague ahead of his trial.  “I hereby amend the arrest warrant and order of transfer,” Judge Iain Bonomy said from Arusha, Tanzania. “I consider that there are exceptional circumstances and that it would be in the interests of justice [to send Kabuga to The Hague].” The decision means that Kabuga, 84, is likely spend at least several months in The Hague and be brought before an international judge there for an initial appearance in his war crimes case, rather than in Tanzania as originally planned. UN prosecutors accuse the former tea and coffee tycoon of bankrolling and importing huge num...
WFP Chief seeks Millions from Donors for Food

WFP Chief seeks Millions from Donors for Food

FEATURED, Health, NEWS
UNITED NATIONS: Even before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley was warning the world would face its worst humanitarian crisis in 2020 since the Second World War. That was due to wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters, and economic crises including in Lebanon, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia. Then came COVID-19 which quickly became a pandemic, escalating the need for food — and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it is still not under control. Beasley, who caught COVID-19 in April, has spent the months since he recovered reaching out to world leaders and visiting stricken countries with a new warning: Millions of people are closer to starvation because of the deadly combination of c...
Coronavirus – UNICEF Uganda Humanitarian Situation Report No. 7: July-August 2020

Coronavirus – UNICEF Uganda Humanitarian Situation Report No. 7: July-August 2020

FEATURED, Health, NEWS
Highlights Uganda confirmed 3,074 cases of COVID-19 among Ugandan nationals during the reporting period; the majority of cases were in males (86 per cent). Uganda’s cumulative COVID-19 caseload included 1,699 recoveries, 32 deaths (with a case fatality rate of 1.0 per cent), and 86 cases in children (representing 2.8 per cent of the country’s total caseload).A cumulative total of 4,790,000 children and women continued to receive essential health care services—including immunizations, prenatal, postnatal, and HIV services, and care for gender-based violence—in UNICEF-supported health facilities during the COVID-19 period from March to August 2020.The Government of Uganda, with support from UNICEF, provided Vitamin A supplementation to nearly 408,000 children, psychosocial support servic...
WHO  To Probe Sexual Abuse In DR Congo By Medical Personnel During Ebola Outbreak

WHO To Probe Sexual Abuse In DR Congo By Medical Personnel During Ebola Outbreak

FEATURED, NEWS
By Our Reporter The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by people identified as health and aid officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the global body is trying to stop the spread of the Ebola virus. The WHO said it is “outraged” and promised the charges will be “rigorously investigated” in a statement released on Tuesday.  “The betrayal of people in the communities we serve is reprehensible. We do not tolerate such behaviour in any of our staff, contractors or partners,” read the statement in part. “Anyone identified as being involved will be held to account and face serious consequences, including immediate dismissal,” it added. The statement came after the news website The New Humanitarian re...
Republic of Korea Provides rice and Funds for Refugees and Ugandans Threatened by Locusts

Republic of Korea Provides rice and Funds for Refugees and Ugandans Threatened by Locusts

FEATURED, Latest News
By Keefa Nuwahereza The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed 5,000 metric tonnes of rice and us$3,000,000 in cash from the republic of Korea to provide much needed relief assistance to 781,000 people including refugees and Ugandans threatened by locusts. “WFP is extremely grateful for the continued generosity of the republic of Korea since 2018 and its appreciation of the immense humanitarian needs in Uganda, which were suddenly made even more complicated but COVID-19,” said WFP Officer in Charge Ryan Aderson. “This contributed of 5,000 metric tons of rice found us at a cross road when we were considering whether to make deeper ratio cuts for refuges because of a shortage of funding, even as we have evidence that they already face high food insecurity,” he ad...
ADF Rebels Kill at Least 10 Civilians

ADF Rebels Kill at Least 10 Civilians

FEATURED, NEWS, Politics
Allied Democratic Forces have targeted 580 civilians in North-Kivu since Nov 2019. At least 10 civilians have been killed by a Ugandan rebel group in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict monitor group announced Monday. The incident occurred on Sunday night in the town of Mbau, territory of Beni, North-Kivu province, according to the Kivu security A soldier of the FARDC, the Democratic Republic of Congo governmental troops, holds a furet used as a talisman prior to a fight against rebels of ADF-Nalu, a Ugandan Islamist group which has been based on the Congolese side of the border since its creation in 1995, near Kokola, 50km from Beni in the east of the country.The ADF-Nalu rebels have been led since 2007 by Jamil Mukulu, a former Christian who conv...
Do Not Lose the Gains of 20 years of UN Investment in Peace in a Rush for the MONUSCO Mission to Leave

Do Not Lose the Gains of 20 years of UN Investment in Peace in a Rush for the MONUSCO Mission to Leave

FEATURED, NEWS, Politics
By Rigobert Minani Bihuzo The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) October 2020 session will debate the future of its peace mission (MONUSCO) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). IDP camp appeared around MONUSCO base in Kitshanga after heavy fighting broke between APCLS and FARDC, it is estimated that 5000 peoples where displaced and at least 90 where killed, the 7th of March 2013. © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti According to UNSC Resolution (UNSCR) 2502 adopted last December, MONUSCO’s mandate will end on December 20, 2020. This completion date conflicts with the recommendation made last year by an independent assessment of MONUSCO ordered by the UNSC. Fataki,Ituri Province,DR Congo: Bangladeshi troops of MONUSCO patrol the villages of Fataki to protect the civilai...
UN Staff in Uganda Accused of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

UN Staff in Uganda Accused of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

FEATURED, NEWS, Uncategorized
Allegations include trading food for sex from vulnerable women. The United Nations has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and the exploitation of vulnerable women by members of its staff in Uganda’s drought-stricken northeastern Karamoja region. The inquiry by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services, which began early this month, follows allegations by a whistleblower of sexual abuse and exploitation by a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) staffer against a “female victim” – and a more general pattern of serious sexual misconduct by other UN staff working in what is Uganda’s poorest region. The allegations centre on the World Food Programme compound in the town of Moroto, and involve UN staff demanding sex from local women in exchange fo...
At least 50 Feared Dead in DR Congo Mine Collapse

At least 50 Feared Dead in DR Congo Mine Collapse

FEATURED, NEWS
Makeshift mine collapses in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu province following heavy rains in the eastern region. At least 50 people are feared dead after a gold mine collapsed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), local authorities have said. The accident in the makeshift mine occurred on Friday about 3pm local time (13:00 GMT) following heavy rains in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu province. Provincial governor Theo Ngwabije Kasi deplored "the tragic deaths of 50 people, most of them young". Kamituga Mayor Alexandre Bundya blamed "soil subsidence caused by torrential rain" for the accident and said "the exact number of victims" was not yet known. He declared a two-day mourning period and urged local residents to help extract the bodies fr...
“Hotel Rwanda’ hero at risk of torture” Lawyers

“Hotel Rwanda’ hero at risk of torture” Lawyers

FEATURED, NEWS, Politics, Rwanda
Lawyers for “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina on Monday said their client is at risk of torture after his arrest on terrorism charges. In a complaint with the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Rusesabagina’s attorneys said he has not been able to speak to his legal team or family since his arrest last week. They called for a probe into whether he “is still alive,” The Associated Press reported. It also claims the lawyer claiming to represent Rusesabagina was appointed without his consent. “[T]here is no way Mr. Rusesabagina would interview and voluntarily hire a lawyer without consulting with his own family first,” the complaint states, according to the AP. President Paul Kagame has suggested Rusesabagina was tricked into returning to Rwanda, where he ha...