Africa

With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, “Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned today.

An alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South Sudan has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to issue a warning that if the community and political leaders at the highest levels do not rein it in, mass atrocities in the country could erupt.

Ethiopia withdraws troops from Somalia, where they had been fighting Islamist militants, and blames a lack of international support.

In Kenya, children who are born intersex cannot get birth certificates or identity cards, or register for exams.

Some 145 child soldiers fighting for two rebel factions in South Sudan have been released, Unicef says.

Mamelodi Sundowns arrive home in South Africa to a heroes' welcome after winning the African Champions League on Sunday.

The train which crashed last Friday in Cameroon was travelling at an "unusually" high speed, a top official of the French company that runs the railway line, says.

Kenyan marathon runner Rita Jeptoo has her two-year ban doubled after an IAAF appeal was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Congolese authorities are cracking down again on pro-democracy activists in an apparent attempt to stop protests planned for this week while spreading fear and intimidation. 

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LUCHA protest, October 18, 2016. 

© Private

Police arrested six activists from the youth movement Struggle for Change (LUCHA) yesterday as they were mobilizing students at a university in Goma to take part in demonstrations and villes mortes – general strikes – planned for Wednesday and Thursday. Another three LUCHA activists were arrested in Goma this morning. 

On Sunday, LUCHA activist Victor Tesongo was arrested at his home in Kinshasa. Intelligence agents detained him for several hours and threatened him before freeing him without charge. Tesongo was previously jailed on trumped up charges from February 16 to August 31.

Another activist, Jean Claude Ekosa from the citizens’ movement Quatrième Voix, was abducted on Sunday in Kinshasa following a meeting with colleagues. After he got into a shared taxi, a passenger took out a gun, pointed it at Ekosa, and told him not to scream. “If you cry out,” he said, “we’re going to kill you like a dog and your family is never going to find you again.” Ekosa was blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination. He was put in a cell with five other people, and interrogated that evening and the next day about his connections to the opposition and accused of being “among those disrupting public order.” Eventually Ekosa overheard the kidnappers say he “wasn’t the target they were looking for.” Early this morning, they put Ekosa back in the car and dumped him on the side of the road near Kinkole, on the outskirts of Kinshasa, still blindfolded and with his hands tied together.  
 
The demonstrations scheduled for the next two days were called for by a coalition of 173 citizens’ movements and human rights groups from across Congo, who published a roadmap last week on how to overcome the country’s political crisis. They also called on President Joseph Kabila to leave office at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19. 

The planned demonstrations coincide with a summit of regional leaders and special envoys for the Great Lakes region in Luanda, Angola, to discuss Congo’s political crisis.

“We can’t afford to keep fleeing,” said “Halima,” a 35-year-old mother of four who recently fled fighting in the contested town of Galkayo in central Somalia. “Those fighting might have big houses to hide in, but we live in tents and the bullets can easily reach us.” 

Halima (not her real name) is among thousands of Somalis affected by renewed violence in Galkayo, stemming from conflict between the Galmudug interim administration that was established in 2015, and Puntland – a conflict that is deeply rooted in regional and clan rivalries. The town of Galkayo lies on the fault line of that conflict. 

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Internally displaced Somalis stand outside a makeshift Muslim Madrasa (Islamic school) at the Halabokhad IDP settlement in Galkayo, northwest of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, July 20, 2011.

© 2011 Reuters

On October 7, 2016, forces from Puntland, which controls the north of the town, and Galmudug, which controls the south, clashed in the Garsoor area where a “green line” divides the two administrations. The outbreak of fighting comes nearly a year after another face-off between the two regional forces. Once again, civilians are paying a heavy price. Halima had already fled a year ago from fighting in the Garsoor area, which hosts many displacement camps including her own.

It is not clear yet how many people have been injured or killed in the fighting but medical officials told Human Rights Watch that at least 22 people have been killed, including at least four civilians, and dozens have been injured. Doctors say the injuries are mainly bullet wounds. Najma (not her real name), a resident of a displacement camp, saw two young men shot on October 7, as they fled the camp for safety; a third was shot dead. Residents in the town report hearing heavy weaponry during the three weeks of fighting.  

The fighters on both sides appear to show little regard for civilians or their property. Halima said that on October 7, “the bullets were flying everywhere from early in the morning until night time” across the Donyale camp where she lives, hitting several shops and tents. In south Galkayo, the director of the hospital told Human Rights Watch that during the week of October 10, they moved patients to a facility eight kilometers outside of the town as the fighting came dangerously close. The head of the main hospital in Puntland-controlled Galkayo said that on October 10, a man visiting the hospital’s morgue was wounded by a stray bullet.  

Galkayo is emptying out. According to the United Nations, at least 75,000 people have fled, including those living in displacement camps. Halima and Najma are among those who have sought safety elsewhere, finding refuge with relatives or sleeping outdoors in displacement camps on the outskirts of the town. Three weeks on, with reports of more people fleeing heavy fighting over the last 48 hours, their fate, like many others, is unclear. 

The suffering inflicted on civilians is largely ignored. Those in control should ensure civilians are protected from harm and that humanitarian aid – water, food, shelter – can reach all those in need. Those responsible for abuses owe the victims adequate compensation. Puntland and Galmudug officials need to make the safety of the population central, not an afterthought.

A young Tunisian woman was photographed naked by a friend of her father's. He then used the images to silence her - until one day she snapped and took a bloody revenge. This story is part of the BBC's Shame series, which examines a disturbing new phenomenon - the use of private or sexually explicit images to blackmail and shame young people, mainly girls and women, in some of the world's most conservative societies. Explore all the stories and join the conversation at www.bbc.co.uk/shame

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