Day: June 20, 2022

International development charity, Christian Aid, has warned the “the time to act is now” as they publish a new report detailing the impact the war in Ukraine is having on global food and energy prices.

With hunger having almost doubled since 2019, the international development agency’s report raises concerns of a refugee crisis concerned while it confirms the scope of Christian Aid projects in several of the countries could be set back because of increasing prices.

Christian Aid is calling for the UK Government to take a leadership role to push all G7 countries to uphold G7 Famine Compact Commitments, including new funding to scale up crisis preparedness and response, and to restore international aid cuts to 0.7% of GDP.

The intervention comes as polling by Savanta, commissioned by Christian Aid, shows seven in ten (71%) of the British public said the war in Ukraine and the consequences of rising food prices made them worry more about people facing hunger.

However, while nine in 10 (91%) of the British public is aware of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine just two in ten (23%) is aware of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Michael Mosselmans, Christian Aid’s Head of Humanitarian, said: “We must be clear; we are facing a humanitarian crisis.?Poverty and hunger are set to rise exponentially in some of the poorest parts of the world. Christian Aid is hearing of growing fears that a food crisis could lead to riots and instability. While these fears remain underreported, we must be ready for a refugee crisis like the Arab Spring.”

The report sites concern that areas in Burundi are running out of fuel while in in the DRC local traders say the current situation is worse than during the pandemic. In Zimbabwe, food prices in May were 154.6 per cent higher than the previous year, with year-on-year inflation at 131.7 per cent.

In Afghanistan, Christian Aid workers in Herat found that the cost of a 16L oil pack has risen from 3000 Afghani (£27) to 4300 Afghani (£39) in just one week. The size of bread in Herat bakeries has also reduced “significantly” after flour prices doubled in the last month.

Subrata De, Christian Aid country manager for Afghanistan, warned: “One cannot imagine the situation of poor families. People are openly offering to sell their body parts to manage the price hike. Very soon Afghanistan will experience another round of extreme humanitarian situation where families will be forced to sell their children.”

Analysis of energy costs in the report, using data from Global Petro Prices data sets, show that for the countries where Christian Aid is operational household prices have risen from 2019 to date. In addition to creating a cost-of-living crisis, Christian Aid fears price rises are restricting their ability to respond to people in need.

Ray Hasan, Christian Aid’s Head of Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean & Global Programmes, said: “The rocketing price rises for food and fuel that we are currently experiencing are having serious impacts on our work. The food we distribute is more expensive now and sometimes we must cut back on certain items like oil so that we can help more people with the basics. Cash distributions are less meaningful than they used to be.”

“The time to act is now,” Mr Mosselmans adds. “We also need a long-term approach to stabilising global food security and to stop funding fossil fuels and the reliance on Russia that causes, both of which impacts the countries where we work.?That means investment in sustainable renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.” ?

Source: Christian Aid

Millions of people are facing a food crisis that could be worse than any we’ve lived through. All around the world families are finding it harder than ever to put food on the table.In Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, up to 20 million people are fighting for their very survival.

The Catholic aid agency, CAFOD, has responded by launching a World Food Crisis Appeal – which aims to raise urgent funds to support those facing acute hunger, help people rebuild their lives, and encourage people to take action that can help build a better, fairer food system that works for everyone.

In East Africa, many of the people worst affected have been learning to cope with the impact of climate change for years – but collapsing supply chains, on top of four consecutive years of unbearable drought, have put everything they’ve worked for at risk.

CAFOD is responding to the World Food Crisis in countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and has spokespeople, photos and film footage from the following countries:

•Kenya – CAFOD has a range of spokespeople in-country. Our Executive Director, Christine Allen, has also recently returned from northern Kenya. Photos and b-roll footage available.

•South Sudan – spokespeople available in country and in the UK.

•Ethiopia – spokespeople available in country and in the UK.

•Afghanistan – high quality recent photos, case studies and b-roll footage of families who have struggled to find enough food over recent months.

•Lebanon – the country imported 80% of its grain from Ukraine, and the current crisis comes on top of an existing economic crisis and impacts of the Beirut port explosion. Spokespeople available.

•Sri Lanka – an economic crisis which has seen food prices rise and in May led to protests and the resignation of the Prime Minister. Spokespeople available in country and in the UK.

Christine Allen, CAFOD’s Executive Director, has just returned from seeing the impact of the food crisis in northern Kenya. She said:

“Even before the war in Ukraine started, the food system was in crisis and the impact of climate change was making it harder for those who grow most of the world’s produce to put food on their own plates. The effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are trickling down the already stressed food system, and the poorest are feeling it most acutely.

“In some of the places I visited in northern Kenya, it has only rained a matter of minutes in the last two years. Climate change has devastated the region. The majority of people I met had already lost their precious livestock to the drought. The women in Tulidimtu village mourned their camel’s death like they would a friend’s. Livestock are like a savings account and in a drought, the death of livestock is often followed by the death of people.

“This crisis was not inevitable and is a result of human action. Firstly, the UK Government and international donors must address the funding gap in East Africa: UK aid to the region has almost halved in the past year due to budget cuts. The root causes of the crisis must also be addressed, including tackling climate change, fixing our broken food system, and providing more funding to community level responses.”

The world food crisis is affecting people all around the world – but as with all crises, the most vulnerable are hit hardest. In a remote, mountainous village in Afghanistan, CAFOD is supporting families with cash so that they are able to buy food from the local market. One father told us:

“We did not have enough food for days. We had only bread for two mealtimes. For another mealtime, my children would eat grasses. My wife and my boy are hospitalised for eating grasses. Doctors said that their stomachs have problems and their intestines are damaged.”

Source: Catholic Agency for Overseas Development

Kenya on Monday hosted leaders from the East African Community bloc for discussions on how to stop renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The insecurity in the region is heightening tension between Congo and Rwanda. Congo accuses its neighbor of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim denied by Rwanda.

M23 has fought for years to control rich gold and platinum mines found in eastern Congo, where other rebel groups from Rwanda and Uganda are also active.

Tension moved higher recently when a Congolese army soldier was killed inside Rwanda, after firing at security forces at the border post.

Joel Baraka is a conflict and resolution researcher at the Pole Institute, a Congolese think tank. He says Congo’s government sees the EAC as the best route for easing regional tensions.

President Felix Tshikedi, he says, is putting political trust and importance in the East African Community to bring a solution to the crisis and peace in the eastern DRC. He adds Congo also sees Kenya as a mediator between the three countries, including Rwanda and Uganda.

At the meeting in Nairobi, leaders will discuss sending troops from East Africa to help quell the violence.

Last week Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called on deploying regional forces from EAC members, which include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda and Congo, which joined in March.

Researcher and political analyst Ntanyoma Rukumbuzi says the Congolese army cannot be left alone to solve the armed conflict in the country.

“In case this should be a well-coordinated force under the watch of the UN but also the AU, at some point we need to end the crisis in the eastern DRC. We won’t expect the Congolese national army to tackle the crisis because largely it’s part of the crisis,” he said.

The regional bloc is considering a plan to deploy troops in three Congolese provinces — North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.

Baraka says Congolese will not accept the troops in its territory.

“I don’t think people will accept the troops because there is some opposition to these forces in the parliament, civil society groups are opposing it and they won’t accept any forces that involve Rwanda and Ugandan troops,” he said.

Amani Tom, a social justice activist agrees. He says regional leaders have denied his country peace.

“We have security forces from the United Nations Peacekeeping mission and many times forces from Rwanda and Uganda come here to find peace but there has been no peace. I think for us to get peace in eastern DRC and the entire country, hypocrisy from the Great Lake leaders must stop and the economic war must stop so that we can build long-lasting peace,” he said.

The humanitarian agencies say more than 25,000 people have fled their homes and 5,000 displaced persons and returnees fled to Uganda in the last five days.

The security situation has made it difficult for aid agencies to assess the humanitarian needs of those affected by the conflict.

Source: Voice of America

This year the world reached a stark milestone of 100 million children, women, and men uprooted from their homes by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuses.

As displacement shatters all records, the right to seek protection has never been more important for people – whoever they are, wherever they come from, and whenever they are forced to flee.

This fundamental right is non-negotiable and has given life-saving protection to countless millions of people worldwide, many of them in Central Africa.

At the close of 2021, the number of refugees worldwide reached 27.1 million, while 53.2 million remained displaced within the borders of their countries.

In recent years, more than 2.3 million people escaping conflict in South Sudan have sought and been granted asylum in five neighboring countries: Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A small, young country, itself facing multiple challenges, South Sudan has also generously opened its territory to 343,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Sudan, but also from Ethiopia and DRC, at the moment they most needed it.

This year on World Refugee Day, each year marked on 20 June to highlight the strength and resilience of people forced to flee, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is restating five core principles that have saved these and countless other lives:

1. THE RIGHT TO SEEK ASYLUM:

Seeking asylum is a human right. Anyone fleeing persecution, conflict, or human rights abuses has a right to seek protection in another country.

2. SAFE ACCESS:

Borders should remain open to all people forced to flee. Restricting access and closing borders can make the journey even more dangerous for people seeking safety.

3. NO PUSHBACKS:

People can’t be forced to return to a country if their life or freedom would be at risk. This means that countries shouldn’t push anyone back without first evaluating the dangers they would face back home.

4. NO DISCRIMINATION:

People should not be discriminated against at borders. All applications for refugee status must be given fair consideration, regardless of factors like race, religion, gender and country of origin.

5. HUMANE TREATMENT:

People forced to flee should be treated with respect and dignity. They are entitled to safe and dignified treatment like any human being. Among other things, this means keeping families together, protecting people from traffickers, and avoiding arbitrary detention.

Protecting people forced to flee is a collective global responsibility. Once they are out of harm’s way, people fleeing wars or persecution need opportunities to heal, learn, work and thrive – in line with the Refugee Convention and the Global Compact on Refugees. And they need solutions, such as the chance to return home in safety and dignity, to integrate locally, or in the most vulnerable cases to be resettled to a third country.

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Paul Adong, a former Managing Director of the state-own oil and gas company in South Sudan (Nilepet), is dead.

Adong, a source said, died in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday.

Although the cause of death is still unknown, relatives and friends said the deceased complained of consistent stomach pain and loss of appetite.

“Yes, it is true Comrade Adong has died. I was informed by his family about this unfortunate development yesterday afternoon. I was actually with Dr. Riek Gai Kok at his house where I have gone to go pay my condolence on the sudden passing of Hon. Manawa Peter Gatkuoth Gual, who is his nephew,” a high-profile source told Sudan Tribune on Sunday evening.

Augustino Ting Mayai, the Sudd Institute’s Managing Director described the deceased as the “the top most rounded Managing Director of the gas and oil sector has ever had”.

“He [Adong] knew his stuff in and out and spoke with unmatched authority. He was one of a kind,” said Mayai.

Gordon Buay, South Sudan’s deputy head of mission in the United States, describing the death of the former Nilepet boss as “unfortunate and sad”.

“Paul Adong was not supposed to die. I cannot accept he is dead,” he said.

For his part, former Petroleum minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau said Adong died at a time the nation still required his knowledge in the oil and gas sector.

The deceased was the first Managing Director of the country’s national oil and gas Company until Joseph Cleto Deng replaced him in May 2015.

Source: Sudan Tribune