According to an alert from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, almost 16,000 mostly women and children, have been displaced to Dori, after gunmen killed at least 79 people in the town of Seytenga, which is close to the border with Niger.
Door-to-door killers
“The new arrivals in Dori gave accounts of armed men going door-to-door to seek out and kill adult males, meaning that many witnessed the deaths of their husbands or fathers,” said UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh. “Almost two-thirds of those who fled Seytenga are under 18.”
Today, hundreds of people who fled the attackers have no option but to sleep rough on the roadside until shelter is found, the UNHCR official told journalists in Geneva.
Many others have been taken in by host and displaced families already in Dori, while others have found space in refugee reception and transit centres.
More Burkinabe are expected to arrive in Dori in the coming days, while some 15,500 have sought shelter across the border in Niger’s Tillabéri region, where resources are already scant.
Ongoing mass displacement
Burkina Faso’s displacement crisis is one of the world’s fastest growing humanitarian emergencies.
The number of internally displaced people reached 1.9 million at the end of April, UNHCR said, citing government figures.
Urgent needs addressed
With the Burkinabe authorities, UNHCR and partners have offered help to meet the most urgent needs. These include providing shelter and essential items, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) and psychosocial support.
But non-State armed groups have attacked water supplies and infrastructure in the country, including a recent attack on the main water supply to Dori, and WASH needs could rise rapidly, UNHCR warned.
To help those families sleeping rough, UN humanitarians have helped regional authorities to relocate them to three existing displacement sites in Dori. Additional plots have been identified to host potential future arrivals, too.
“UNHCR and partners are preparing to bolster supplies of emergency shelters and core relief items, including sleeping mats, soap and cooking utensils, for more than 1,000 families,” Mr. Saltmarsh explained.
Shrinking space
He noted that the town of Dori has grown threefold and is now home to almost 76,000 displaced Burkinabe, as well as some 20,000 refugees from Mali.
Although efforts have been made to provide State education and healthcare to the new arrivals, the UN agency warned that competition for resources – water and land for pasture and agriculture, plus rising inflation and fuel shortages – “are all testing peaceful coexistence between different communities”.
Other countries in the Sahel – Chad, Mali and Niger – also face a combination of violence, poverty and the effects of climate change. More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes in the Sahel region over the past decade.
To date, the $591 million humanitarian appeal for Burkina Faso is only 15 per cent funded.
The Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment (CFSVA) shows that the combined effects of economic and political crises; conflict and displacement; climate shocks; and a poor harvest in the past agricultural season are among the key drivers of the emergency.
As millions of people are being “pushed deeper into hunger and poverty”, Eddie Rowe, WFP Representative and Country Director in Sudan, drew attention to another challenge.
“Funding levels are not matching the humanitarian needs and we must act now to avoid increasing hunger levels and to save the lives of those already affected,” he warned.
Predicted to worsen
The assessment projects that the situation is likely to worsen throughout the country’s lean season, which started this month and will continue through September.
By that time, up to 40 per cent of the population, or around 18 million people, may slip into food insecurity, which WFP and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) had warned of earlier this year.
“In the 2021/2022 harvest year, Sudan was able to produce 5.1 million tons of cereal, enough to cover the needs of less than two thirds of the population,” said Babagana Ahmadu, FAO Representative in Sudan.
“If the ongoing agriculture season doesn’t receive robust support with agricultural inputs and livestock services, the number of food insecure people may dramatically increase to unprecedented levels and ultimately lead to more conflict and displacement”.
Protracted conflict to blame
With more than half of the country’s wheat imports stemming from the Black Sea region, the conflict in Ukraine has further driven up food and fuel prices – compounding the situation.
The CFSVA assessment illustrates that food insecurity exists in all of Sudan’s 18 states and has worsened in 16.
The 10 most affected localities are in Darfur, which have been ravaged by nearly two decades of protracted conflict and displacement.
The most affected is Kereneik, West Darfur, where renewed clashes at the end of April claimed the lives of at least 179 people, displaced around 125,000, and left up to 90 per cent of the population food insecure, according to the CFSVA analysis.
Call for action
An earlier WFP and FAO assessment on agricultural production, released last March, revealed that poor harvests in many parts of Sudan negatively affected food availability and livelihood opportunities.
Building upon this, the newly released CFSVA confirms the worsening food security situation in Sudan.
To address the sharp rise in food insecurity, FAO and WFP are calling for urgent action, including increased funding, in order to save lives and prevent a looming hunger crisis in Sudan.
Women display sorted gums and gum resins at a local market in Marsabit County. The women have greatly benefited economically through harvesting and selling non-wood products. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS
by Robert Kibet (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
Nairobi, Jun 16 (IPS) – Clad in traditional regalia and necklaces of richly coloured beads that form magnificent patterns around their necks, an army of women from the pastoral Rendile community that resides at the heart of Marsabit, a county in Kenya’s arid north, is on a mission.
Shoulder-to-shoulder, they are walking towards economic freedom armed with relevant tools up the hill to tap gum and gum-resins from acacia trees.
“We face a myriad of challenges. First, we have to fetch water before harvesting gum from acacia trees. We then sort and dry it before taking it to the market for sale. From gums and gum-resin sales, I am able to meet my family’s needs. No need to sell my sheep and goats at a throw-away price,” says Caroline Sepina, a 47-year-old mother of six, as she carefully sorts the gum, which retails at $ 5 (Ksh 550) per kilogram.
Gums and resins are hardened plant exudates obtained from Acacia, Boswellia and Commiphora species in African drylands.
In Kenya’s drylands, human survival is continually faced with multiple challenges with minimal options for alternative livelihoods.
There are no men within the manyattas in Ndikir, a village located in the Marsabit sub-county. Because of the drought, men have had to move to the nearby Samburu county, searching for pasture and water for their livestock.
Here, the women are left behind, but unlike in the past, when they would be unemployed, they now have alternative livelihoods which complement their livestock.
According to Leuwan Kokton, assistant chief of the Ndikir sub-location, men usually migrate with the livestock to the nearby Samburu county to avoid severe drought, with a few livestock left to help cater for children’s upkeep and sometimes, medication.
“Through this economic venture, I do not have to sell sheep from my herds to cater for my household needs. All I need to do is just walk to the nearby trees and tap the non-wood products, then sell them at the market. This helps me preserve my sheep and goats,” Joseph Longelesh, a resident of Ndikir village told IPS in an interview.
The gums and gum-resins of commercial importance collected from the forests in Kenya include arabic, myrrh, hagar and frankincense. Kenya has resources of gums and resins with commercial production confined to the country’s drylands. Gum arabic comes from Acacia senegal or Acacia seyal, while commercial gum resins are myrrh from Commiphoramyrrha, Hagar from Commiphora holtziana and Frankincense from Boswellia neglecta S.
Traditionally, the resin of Myrrh Hagar is suitable for treating inflammation, arthritis, obesity, microbial infection, wounds, pain, fractures, tumours, gastrointestinal diseases, snake bites and scorpion stings.
Tommaso Menini, the managing director for African Agency for Arid Resource (AGAR), told IPS that gum and resin are directly connected to environmental conservation. The idea is to make the pastoral communities see an alternative source of livelihood apart from livestock.
“Hagar is now an incredibly sought-after product from mostly Chinese buyers because it is highly used in their traditional medicine. Having a nearly 1.4 billion Chinese population means that the demand is high,” Menini told IPS.
“In the last years, we have seen an increasing presence of Chinese buyers setting up a base in Kenya. Before, we had agents who would send several containers to China, but since they are setting up in Kenya, they are now driving prices up because there is more demand.”
For Janet Ahatho, assistant natural resources Director at Marsabit County, these non-wood products have been in existence. Still, the locals had not been exposed to its economic potential and how to exploit them for monetary gains.
“As a county government, we have mapped the areas and worked with the locals. The people who collect the products and sell them are the herders themselves. They have attached that kind of importance to these trees, hence helping in environmental conservation,” says Ahatho.
In Marsabit county, these non-wood products are commonly found in Laisamis, Moyale and North Horr sub-counties.
“Environment destruction is reduced because we have environmental management committees in each sub-county, and they are the ones engaging the collectors and the sellers of the product. They are trained to train the community on why it is important to conserve the tree species,” says Ahatho.
In 2005, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, through the technical cooperation programme of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), carried out resource assessment and mapping of gums and resins in Kenya.
Engineer Chidume Okoro, a Network for Natural Gums and Resin in Africa (NGARA) chairperson, says production is far from sustainable, particularly for frankincense, with debarking frequently damaging or killing trees.
According to Chidume, production of gum and resin in large quantities for commercial purposes should be done with great care, by training the locals on how to do it sustainably while saving the acacia trees.
“With much focus on exporting bulk raw materials and poor management of the resource, export markets are underexploited. Gender inequities and power imbalances exist and in some cases have led to unequal access and control over benefits from these natural resources,” Okoro told IPS.
Since exploring the non-wood products, Sepina says her children have always had balanced meals, and she can pay her children’s school fees.
Peatland Forest in DRC. Credit: Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace
Opinion by Tal Harris, Raphael Mavambu (kinshasa)
Inter Press Service
KINSHASA, Jun 16 (IPS) – Nine of the 16 oil blocks to be auctioned in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) next month overlap Protected Areas, according to a review of official government maps by Greenpeace Africa.
Minister Didier Budimbu, who had previously insisted that “none” of the blocks overlaps Protected Areas, confirmed Greenpeace’s findings in a statement yesterday.
Plans to auction rainforest for oil were reactivated in April, five months after the signature of a $500 million forest deal signed with the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) at COP26.
Greenpeace Africa and others have expressed alarm that three of the blocks overlap with the Cuvette Centrale peatlands, a biodiversity hotspot containing about 30 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to three years of global emissions. Oil drilling could release the immense stocks of carbon they store, warned Professor Simon Lewis of University College London.
That Protected Areas are also at risk became apparent last month when the Hydrocarbons Ministry itself published a video featuring a map of six of the 16 blocks : five of them are clearly shown to overlap Protected Areas.
The voice-over praises the “meticulousness” with which blocks had been “selected,” mindful of environmental “sensibilities,” and claiming input from unnamed environmentalists.
Peatland Forest in DRC. Credit: Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace
Another official online source, the Environment Ministry Forest Atlas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, shows nine of the blocks overlapping Protected Areas, including a national park, nature reserves, and a mangroves marine park.
The Ministry’s statement to Greenpeace Africa asserts: “It’s been decided that Protected Areas containing mineral natural resources of high economic value will be degazetted.”
While it describes the overlaps as “very negligible,” a simple review of the map shows significant overlap in at least three cases, including that of Upemba National Park, part of which occupies about a third of the Upemba block.
Irene Wabiwa Betoko, International Project Leader for the Congo Basin forest at Greenpeace Africa said: “The auction of new oil blocks anywhere during a climate crisis that disproportionately affects African people is mad.
Greenwashing the auction of blocks overlapping peatlands and Protected Areas is the height of cynicism. Doing so with such amateurism is particularly disturbing.”
In its statement to Greenpeace Africa, the Ministry emphasizes that no areas inside UNESCO World Heritage sites are up for auction and that overlaps are restricted to other Protected Areas. Congolese law, however, makes no distinction, in terms of oil exploration, among Protected Areas.
Block 18, one of the few that doesn’t encroach on a Protected Area, is only about twenty kilometers from Salonga National Park, a UNESCO site. In July 2021, the DRC government succeeded in removing Salonga from the List of World Heritage in Danger after it promised to update UNESCO, no later than 1 February 2022, on “the progress made towards the definitive cancellation of the oil concessions” there.
Over two months after the deadline, the government reported that the park’s steering committee decided on 14 December 2021 to “initiate actions for the definitive cancellation.” Instead of finally acting, the government continues planning to act.
“The mouth that says all the right things about the climate and biodiversity crises works separately from the hand that signs the contracts that make them worse. This disconnect also characterizes DRC’s donors: their COP26 speeches in praise of the Congo rainforest have resulted in an agreement that is an open invitation to oil companies,” added Irene Wabiwa.
The agreement signed at COP26 does nothing to protect peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale from the oil and gas industry, and is hardly more demanding with regard to the integrity of Protected Areas.
Instead of banning extractive industries in them, the 2 November letter of intent seeks only damage control. It calls for a study “to determine to what extent the titles of hydrocarbons overlap with and/or have an impact on protected areas, with a view to adopting appropriate prevention or mitigation measures ”.
Greenpeace Africa calls on the DRC government to cancel the auction of new oil blocks: “Instead of auto-pilot steering Congo into a climate catastrophe, the government and the international community must invest in ending energy poverty by accelerating investments in clean and accessible renewable energies,” concluded Irene Wabiwa.
Tal Harris is International Communications Coordinator, Greenpeace Africa: and Raphaël Mavambu is Communications and Media Consultant, Greenpeace Africa.
Ingabire Muziga Mamy, Managing Director, Charis Unmanned Aerial Solutions Rwanda, provides drone services for spraying gardens with pesticides, among other farming activities in Rwanda. Technology is crucial to improving food security, researchers say. CREDIT: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
by Aimable Twahirwa (kigali)
Inter Press Service
KIGALI, Jun 15 (IPS) – A few years ago, after coming up with a project of launching the first-ever unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in Rwanda, entrepreneur Mamy Muziga Ingabire identified the need to provide farmers with information related to their activity – such as the health status of crops.
“Major focus was to leverage drone technology to support smallholder farmers in increasing their productivity,” Muziga told IPS in a recent interview.
Muziga is the Managing Director of CHARIS Unmanned Vehicle Solutions, one of the Rwandan-based companies providing drone-based solutions.
Several solutions and applications have been introduced to provide Rwandan farmers with innovative technology for accessing timely information on climate change, crop health, and diseases affecting them for informed decisions. Using ICTs gives farmers more access to market information, weather, and nutrition.
Several solutions have developed during the implementation phase, including the project for the Nitrogen fertilisation of wheat crops using drone technology in Musanze, a district in Northern Rwanda.
A drone with fixed cameras and sensors is sent across the field, takes accurate images of the plantations and the land, and collects precise data. This data provides specific indicators that enable operators to know the crop’s health and what it needs as fertilizer to grow properly.
While entrepreneurs and officials hail gains smallholder farmers enjoy by using these technological solutions for a sustainable food value chain; researchers say it’s important to raise awareness about what these technologies can do for actors along the agriculture value chains.
The importance of science, technology, and innovation (STI) as an important driver of African integration was the main topic of a recent scientific conference in Kigali, Rwanda, attracting researchers, members of the private sector, civil society, and farmers’ organisations from across Africa.
The conference focused on new applications such as drones, precision agriculture, and mobile applications or other hardware systems to automate redundant processes and reduce dependency on human labour in the agriculture value chain.
To bridge the STI policy and practice gaps to transform agricultural development and food systems within the continent, researchers agreed that the current impacts of climate change on food security in Africa should not allow anyone to relax.
Dr Canisius Kanangire, the Executive Director African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), observed that agriculture in Africa is characterised by low productivity, reflected in insufficient food production.
“We need to find the innovative solutions to key issues affecting food systems (…) Climate change is still having a growing impact on the African continent, hitting the most vulnerable hardest, and contributing to food insecurity,” Dr Kanangire told IPS.
While researchers seek to enhance the utilisation and adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies, value-adding processes, and loss-reducing practices among smallholder farmers in Africa, some experts in food systems believe that scaling these innovative solutions is still challenging.
“It is not only for the scientific community to develop solutions, but there is also a way to look at how end users can cope with these technologies,” said Claver Ruzindaza, an agricultural extension professional in Kigali.
With current efforts to deliver hi-tech services through public and private partnerships, researchers seek to equip smallholder farmers in Africa with knowledge of agronomic techniques and skills to improve their productivity, food security and livelihoods using innovative technologies.
“We need to change this narrative which maintains the farmer into the poverty status at a point where a farmer is always synonymous to a poor person,” Kanangire said.
Despite the vast agricultural potential, the latest estimates by the African Development Bank indicate that African countries are experiencing one of the highest prevalence of undernourishment in the world. Official reports show that out of about 795 million people suffering from chronic undernourishment globally, 220 million live in Africa.
Nevertheless, AAFT has developed seed varieties that are more productive and resistant to diseases and droughts, which could increase farm productivity and food availability on the continent has been executed in Malawi and Zimbabwe, while it is currently being expanded in Uganda and Ghana.
Martin Bwalya, Acting Director for Knowledge Management and Programme Evaluation at the Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), told IPS that Africa needs to adopt innovations to reduce reliance on food imports.
“The continent is highly vulnerable because we are importing a massive amount. Close to 30 per cent of food in the continent is being imported,” Bwalya said.
As current efforts focus on mitigating the commodity disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, experts in Kigali unanimously acknowledged the importance of promoting intra-African trade. Growing Africa’s agribusiness sectors by using innovative solutions to help smallholder farmers to become more productive was crucial.
“This agricultural transformation in Africa requires the concerted effort of all stakeholders including policymakers, researchers, private sector and farmers,” Kanangire said.
The incident occurred on Saturday night when armed men launched an assault on the town of Seytenga, located in the Sahel region in the north of the country.
At least 79 people were killed, according to media reports.
‘Spare no effort’
“The Secretary-General calls on the Burkinabè authorities to spare no effort in identifying and bringing the perpetrators of this attack to justice,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.
The UN chief has expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, and to the people of Burkina Faso.
He has also reiterated the UN’s commitment to continue to support the country in its efforts to end insecurity and foster social cohesion.
Second attack in days
Seytanga had already suffered a jihadist attack on Thursday which killed 11 military police, according to media reports.
Speaking earlier this month, the Secretary-General stated that the terrorism threat in Africa is increasing.
Extremist groups such as Al-Qaida and Da’esh, and their affiliates, are continuing to grow in the Sahel region and are making inroads into Central and Southern Africa.
“They are exploiting power vacuums, longstanding inter-ethnic strife, internal weaknesses and state fragilities,” he said in remarks to a counter-terrorism meeting, held in New York.
Lawrence Akena had never dreamt of owning a cow. BRAC believes ownership of assets like livestock can get people out of extreme poverty. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS
by Wambi Michael (oyam & gulu, uganda)
Inter Press Service
Oyam & Gulu, Uganda, Jun 14 (IPS) – Lawrence Akena was born 32 years ago with microcephaly. Because of his neurological condition, he didn’t go to school or benefit from skills training.
The exclusion meant Akena survived on handouts and was one of the young persons living in extreme poverty in Kamdini sub-county, Uganda.
“He would leave home early morning for Kamdini corner just to loiter in the township. At times he would spend nights there until I picked him (up and brought him) back,” says Akena’s mother, Lili Iram.
Akena’s condition, microcephaly, affects children born with a small head or a head that stops growing after birth. It can result in epilepsy, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, hearing loss and vision problems.
The 76-year-old mother says things have changed now. BRAC, the largest NGO in the Global South, selected him among persons with disabilities to benefit from Disability Inclusive Graduation (DIG) project.
BRAC Uganda, the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda (NUWODU), and Humanity & Inclusion (HI, formerly Handicap International) have implemented DIG in selected districts in once war-torn Northern Uganda since 2018. UK Aid has funded DIG through the Inclusive Futures initiative, Cartier Philanthropy and Medicor Foundation, and Sight Savers.
DIG is designed to ensure that Graduation’s four key elements, including meeting people’s basic needs, providing training and assets for income generation, financial literacy and savings support, and social empowerment, are adapted to ensure inclusion for persons with disabilities.
BRAC supported Akena with primary livelihood assets like goats, cattle, pigs, and cash for petty trade. Humanity & Inclusion and NUWODU ensured that DIG’s services, including coaching, were effectively designed to support people with disabilities.
Ownership and control mean that people with disabilities, like Akena, can create a pathway out of extreme poverty and become socially included.
“DIG has helped us a lot. We did not own a cow. We didn’t have goats and chickens. Akena is (now) always at home looking after them,” Imran says when asked about how the program affected her son.
As Imran describes her son’s transformation, Akena enters the loading shed to set his goats free so they can graze alongside two brown zebu cows. According to Iram, he suffered a major setback when his pigs died of African Swine Fever last year.
But when IPS visited Iceme village, where he lives with his mother, Akena had bought another pig which now lives in the pigsty he constructed.
BRAC Project Assistant, Derick Baguma visits Lawrence Akena and his mother, Lili Iram, to assist with their farming ventures. Credit: BRAC
By owning the household assets like cows, goats, and chickens, Akena is graduating from the extremely poor,” says Derick Baguma, a Project Assistant with BRAC.
Baguma has provided household-based coaching to persons with disabilities in Iceme and other villages in Oyam’s Kamdini sub-county to record their assets.
Asked by IPS whether he had witnessed any changes, he said the difference was visible.
“This is not how this household was. And the way Akena appears now is not the same as he was. Do you see those shelters for goats and pigs? Lawrence Akena made over 80% of the contribution to ensure they are the way they are,” Baguma says. “And yet this is a person who was spending nights at verandas in Kamdini.”
Iram told IPS that she is working hard to ensure the assets multiply so that she can invest for her son’s future survival. She and her son are regular savers in their Village Saving Loan Association (VSLA), an informal, local financial institution that relies on its members’ savings to provide loans for emergencies and to support members’ enterprises.
“I had always wished to do something for my son, but I had no support. I plan to buy a piece (of land) and plant trees for his future from the savings in our village saving box,” she says.
Asked what lessons there were to learn from the DIG model, Baguma, who lives with Down syndrome, said there was a need for extra support for households with persons with disabilities.
“That when you are designing a project, you should include persons with disabilities. And it is possible. We shouldn’t look at the expenses. At times people say it is expensive. But we should look at the end results. How impactful is it going to be? If you don’t bring in that perspective of disability, then you are not reaching every person,” he said.
Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development 2020 study found that households with a person with a disability spent close to 39 percent more than other households.
“Future interventions to address poverty and wellbeing needs to ensure that the gap does not widen, leaving people with disabilities and their families behind. This may, therefore, necessitate the provision of additional resources to those households,” said the report.
Finding innovative solutions allows people living with a disability to support themselves and their families. Credit: BRAC
DIG has also provided rehabilitation, psychosocial support (PSS) needs and assistive devices for persons with disabilities, such as railings for entryways, modified latrines and artificial limbs.
One of such recipients is Denis Aboke, who lives in the village next to Akuna’s. Aboke, a cancer survivor, says that he now has an artificial limb 18 years after losing his leg to cancer.
He told IPS that without DIG’s intervention, he would still be using wooden crutches.
“Amputation from cancer had rendered me completely useless. I could not go into the garden. Now I can do some farming. I’m now able to support my family. The children are going to school,” he says.
Apart from the primary assets, Aboke also received a diesel-powered grain milling machine as part of the DIG program, earning him extra income from fellow villagers. While Aboke sees a brighter future for himself, he hopes to see organisations continue to support people with disabilities.
“My brother, I can tell you that nobody cares about people with disabilities. Landmines disabled many people, but there was no support. Health centres here have nothing to offer,” shares Aboke.
Rwot Ma Miyo Village Savings Loan Association members meeting. BRAC ensures that meetings take place at residences of persons with disabilities, so they can be included. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS
Aboke’s rehabilitation was performed at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, over 65 kilometres from his village. The hospital’s orthopaedic workshop serves clients from Northern Uganda and South Sudan.
Principle Orthopaedic Technologist Senvume Kavuma Abbey told IPS that the workshop is overwhelmed by demand, yet orthopaedic care services are least funded in Uganda.
“The government last supplied us with materials ten years ago. So, if DIG had not come in, we wouldn’t be able to provide services to those who benefitted,” explains Senvume.
Program staff arranged community outreach visits linking orthopaedic services with people with different forms of disabilities.
“We were able to see where those people were coming from, and so we designed appliances customised to their environment and their nature of work, and what they desire to do,” said Senvume
While the DIG model is relatively new to Uganda, the program partners think it can be adopted elsewhere as a tool for improving livelihoods for people with disabilities.
Shammah Arinaitwe, a Technical Specialist with BRAC Uganda, told IPS that Graduation is good for reaching poor households. She explained that it considers the recipient’s needs and what they can do and uses their experience to forge the path out of poverty.
“I will give an example. If you cannot afford 60-70 cents of a dollar per day, the project gives you a boost,” explains Arinaitwe. The comparison of someone who has benefitted from DIG is that the assets gained through their participation in the project mean they end up being able to support themselves and grow.
“If I have one cow, eleven goats, and thirty chickens, you can’t compare me with someone who does not have any,” explains Arinaitwe. “I’m glad to tell you that the same model of the project is being started in Tanzania, drawing from the lessons from Uganda.”
El-Ghassim Wane, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Mali, urged ambassadors to support the renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission there, MINUSMA, which he heads.
Although the West African country continues to face political, security and humanitarian challenges, “they are far from being insurmountable,” he said.
Deep aspirations
“If anything, the Malian people…harbor a deep aspiration for reform, transparent governance, and accountability. These aspirations and the forces driving them, including civil society, have shown great resilience and deserve the full support of the international community,” he told the Council.
MINUSMA has been actively involved in efforts aimed at overcoming the deadlock over the transition to civilian rule in Mali, where the military seized power in a coup nearly two years ago.
The 18-month political transition was supposed to conclude in March of this year, prompting regional bloc ECOWAS to impose sanctions on the country.
Last week, the authorities announced that the timetable would be extended to 24 months, effective from March.
“During the coming period, MINUSMA will pursue its efforts in support of a consensus exit from the crisis and, as needed, it will continue to provide support to set up a detailed electoral timetable, as well as a robust monitoring mechanism and the creation of an appropriate climate for the holding of free, regular and credible elections,” said Mr. Wane.
MINUSMA has also supported preparations for a high-level meeting, first planned for last October, to finalize details on the government’s proposal to reintegrate some 26,000 combatants into the State forces, in addition to institutional reforms.
‘Ultimate sacrifice’
Meanwhile, insecurity remains a concern in Mali. Mr. Wane paid tribute to peacekeepers who have died serving with the UN Mission since it was established nearly a decade ago.
“Their ultimate sacrifice illustrates the challenges and complexities we face and further underscores the need to ensure that the Mission has the requisite capabilities, including armed and utility helicopters,” he said.
The security situation remains volatile, particularly in central Mali, and along its borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, known as the Liptako-Gourma region.
A marked deterioration in the tri-border area has affected the Ménaka and Gao regions in northern Mali. Attacks by self-styled Islamic State terrorists have left hundreds dead and displaced thousands more, at a time when French and other European forces are redeploying from the area.
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko
The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, has supported peace and reconciliation efforts in the country.
Potential threat
“I was in Ménaka two weeks ago and saw first-hand the impact of this developing situation. My interlocutors did not rule out an attack on Ménaka town where 5,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) have to date sheltered,” said Mr. Wane.
“Should this scenario come to pass, the MINUSMA base is likely to be perceived as the last haven for civilians fleeing violence. With limited Malian forces in the area and only some 600 peacekeepers available to protect civilians, UN personnel and assets, MINUSMA’s ability to mount an effective response is limited.”
The UN Mission is making contingency plans, including temporarily relocating additional troops, cooperating more closely with the Malian security and defence forces, and redistributing tasks to increase situational awareness and protection.
Proactive response
This ability to adjust quickly in response to a threat is just one example of how peacekeepers have become more proactive in their operations, Mr. Wane said.
Elsewhere, they are also prioritizing civilian protection through long-range patrols in parts of Gao region, and establishing temporary operating bases in Ansongo, a town there, and in Ogossagou, located in the central Mopti region. Peacekeepers have also been deployed along main roads and supply routes to both ensure freedom of movement and deter terrorist attacks.
Mr. Wane told the Council that in central Mali, insecurity continues to be driven by a combination of intercommunal conflicts, long-standing governance issues, and the activity of violent extremists, targeting civilians, Malian forces, and MINUSMA.
The Malian army has stepped up operations in the region, which is home to more than 30 per cent of the population.
“While there has been undeniable improvement in some areas, and a concomitant weakening of the extremist groups, the latter continues still to conduct frequent attacks against Malian and MINUSMA forces as well as civilian populations suspected of collaborating with Malian forces,” he said.
Factors for success
The envoy outlined two factors critical to the success of Malian-led operations, stating that they must first be anchored in an approach that addresses the institutional, governance and socio-economic challenges conducive to the spread of violent extremism.
“In this respect, progress has been made towards developing a Malian politically-led strategy,” he said, highlighting MINUSMA’s support to the process.
Military operations also must be undertaken with due regard for human rights and international humanitarian law, which Mr. Wane said, is absolutely essential for successful counter insurgency.
He reported that during January through March of this year, there was a sharp increase in human rights abuses during military operations, when compared with the previous quarter.
“The list of presumed perpetrators of human rights abuses continues to be led by extremist groups, but has unfortunately seen a rise in violations associated with operations by the Malian defence forces allegedly supported by foreign security personnel in central Mali,” he said.
Insecurity has further compounded the humanitarian situation in Mali. This year, 7.5 million people will require assistance, compared to just under six million last year.
Additionally, more than 1.8 million people will be in immediate need of food aid by August, the highest level since 2014. However, a $686 million appeal for the country is only around 11 per cent funded.
Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “concerned over the deteriorating security situation…and the increase of attacks against civilians by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the on-going presence of other foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the Forces Démocratique pour la libération de Rwanda (FDLR), which continue to pose a threat to regional stability.”
We are concerned over the deteriorating security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the increase of attacks against civilians.
The FDLR is a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group operating inside DRC, some of whose members took part in the 1994 genocide, and Rwanda has reportedly alleged that the Congolese army has been collaborating with it, in the border area.
Disarm, demobilze
The violence must end, he said, urging armed militants to begin participating “unconditionally” in the Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Recovery and Stabilization Program (P-DDRCS), and called on “foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin.”
“We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies”, Mr. Dujarric added.
The increase in attacks across the volatile region was the focus of a Security Council meeting at the end of last month. The brutal M23 rebel group – which began as a renegade force of army mutineers in 2012 committing many atrocities and war crimes – have launched their biggest offensive against Government forces in a decade, according to news reports.
Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs and peace operations, Martha Pobee, said it was “imperative” for the Council to throw its full weight behind efforts to defuse the uptick in violence, in particular by the M23 group, which as seen thousands displaced, many fleeing across the border to Uganda.
Support for peace
“We welcome and support ongoing national and regional political efforts to accompany the disarmament of armed groups, including by President Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya through the Nairobi process”, said Mr. Dujarric.
He stressed that the UN peacekeeping Mission in DRC, MONUSCO was also working closely with the Office of the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, to promote non-military measures for the disarmament of foreign armed groups.
The Spokesperson also welcomed the nomination of President João Lourenço of Angola by the African Union (AU), “to defuse tensions” between the DRC and Rwanda. “The UN fully supports these political efforts.”
He noted that in the restive provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, MONUSCO was “impartially and robustly protecting civilians and helping to neutralize armed groups, as mandated by the Security Council.”
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Loda IDP camp in Fataki, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Human rights
In delivering on its protection of civilians mandate, MONUSCO is continuing to continues to maintain its support to the Congolese armed forces, while ensuring that it is in strict compliance with the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.
“This is to ensure that the Mission’s support to non-United Nations security forces is consistent with the Organization’s purposes and principles as set out in the Charter of the United Nations and obligations under international law”, Mr. Dujarric said.
End hate speech
“We are deeply concerned about reports of increased hate speech in the country against some particular communities, including in the context of the M23’s resurgence. Hate speech must be confronted proactively.”
He noted MONUSCO and the UN Country Team in DRC, have consistently and unconditionally condemned hate speech in the public square.
Working closely with the UN rights office (OHCHR) and the UN Special Adviser for Genocide Prevention, the United Nations Country Team contributes to combatting hate speech by engaging with authorities at the local, provincial and national levels as well as with journalists and civil society, “to condemn such discourse and supports the prosecution of those who propagate it.”
MONUSCO and the United Nations continues to mobilize opinion leaders and influencers to speak against hate speech, including on the Mission’s Radio Okapi, and on social media.
Ms. Tiep lives and works in Omugo II, an extension of Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement, which is home to 43,000 refugees from South Sudan.
After receiving counselling from the Spotlight Initiative, a UN-EU partnership, she became a volunteer psychosocial support assistant with an NGO in Uganda, helping other women and children leave and recover from violent situations.
“Two things led me to flee South Sudan: the war and my abusive husband. I was living in Yei, South Sudan, working for an organization that handled cases of violence against women.
Life was fine, I had money and a place to stay. I was even able to buy a car from my earnings. However, I now know that even if you have resources, if you have stress in your mind, you can go mad. My husband used to beat me. He was a soldier and would threaten to shoot me. Sometimes, I would sleep in the bush. He felt that the children favoured me, and he would get angry about that, but children know love and that’s why they favoured me. I decided to leave him.
I fled in August 2017 and arrived in Uganda four days later, after a painful journey with my five children. I was unable to carry food; because the children were so young, I had to carry them. We walked using side roads because driving on the main road would get us killed by the rebels. The rebels wanted to capture me as their wife as they knew I had money.
Once we reached the border, we were met by the UN who helped transfer us to the settlement
Eva Sibanda/ UN Women
Rose Mary Tiep a beneficiary of a UN-backed support programme, in Omugo II Refugee Settlement, Uganda.
Adjusting to a new life and challenges
When I first arrived at Omugu II, I wanted to die. I was lonely, I would isolate myself and pity myself. In South Sudan, I was doing well.
As refugees, we experience discrimination. Sometimes, the host community will claim the land as theirs. [Within the settlement, every refugee household is allocated some land to plant food.] Even if they harass you, you’re not allowed to respond to them, or they react violently. The host community are resentful that we are using their land, but this is not their land, this is God’s land. The host community speaks Lugbara, so we cannot communicate.
Psychosocial counselling sessions [with TPO Uganda, an implementing partner of UN Women] helped me a lot. I can support my children now. Thanks to the psychosocial support I received, I was able to be a better mother.
Even when the counselling sessions ended, I mobilized groups of women and we would hold discussions. I transferred the knowledge I gained to the community – I continued the work that I left behind in South Sudan. I chose to enrol as a Volunteer Psychosocial Assistant (VPA) with TPO Uganda.
With the confidence I have gained, I now help families that experience violence and I make referrals to partners, police and to childcare, if the case requires it.
Paying it forward
We give psychosocial support to children who have lost their parents and I learnt how to identify cases of gender-based violence. I usually pose questions to the women, using my own life experience as an example.
The volunteer training changed me, and I am now recognized in the community. I have changed the lives of community members who have experienced violence and I was enrolled as a women’s representative in the Omugo community. I feel confident and comfortable in my work.
I wish that my children could have grown up elsewhere, and not in a settlement. I want to make sure they learn, go to school and get jobs. One day I will be old, I want to prepare them for the future.”
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