News

News Round Up 15/09/2017

15 September 2017

 

Burma

  • Military Torches Homes Near Border – Satellite data from Human Rights Watch shows that at least 62 Rohingya villages have been destroyed. The UN estimates that almost 400,000 refugees have now crossed into Bangladesh in the last month.
  • Burma Ambassador Rejects Allegations of Ethnic Cleansing – Burma is the victim of terrorists and “false media” reporting on the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state, the country’s ambassador to the United States told VOA.  “if people are innocent, innocent villagers, they have no reason to flee away from their villages,” he said.
  • Al Qaeda Warns Burma of ‘Punishment’ – Al Qaeda militants have called for support for Myanmar’s self-identifying Rohingya Muslims, who are facing a security crackdown that has sent about 400,000 of them fleeing to Bangladesh, warning that Myanmar would face “punishment” for its “crimes.”
  • John McCain to punish Myanmar in defense bill – The US senator said Tuesday he will strip language from a bill authorizing defense spending that would have expanded U.S. military cooperation with Myanmar. His criticism is one of the strongest amongst a notably weak response from western politicians.
  • Dublin City Councillors to debate stripping Freedom of City from Aung San Suu Kyi – “If it turns out the reports (are correct) and are happening under the eye Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, I think our fellow members may agree to a rescinding of the Freedom of the City.”
Satellite data showing the burning of one of at least 62 Rohingya villages (HRW)

 

Nagorno-karabakh

  • Blogger Lapshin departs from Azerbaijan to Israel – The blogger was arrested in Belarus for making ‘anti-state’ criticisms against Azerbaijan, and for illegal crossing. The extradition and persecution against Lapshin was widely slammed by international community as a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of speech and movement.
  • OSCE Conducts Border Monitoring in the Direction of Hadrut –  the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the eastern direction of the Hadrut region.
An OSCE monitoring mission on in Nagorno-Karabakh. (Asbarez/ArmenPress)

 

Nigeria

The rescued Chibok girls were reunited with their families at a party in the capital Abuja. (Reuters)

 

Sudan

 

South Sudan

Women in South Sudan cannot afford to wait for food handouts and are learning new skills and risking their lives to find ways to survive and provide for their families. (Sam Mednick)

 

Uganda

  • More than 300 families in Lusabe village, Bufupa Parish, Masaba Sub-county in Sironko District that were recently hit by mudslides have asked for faster response from government due to the dire conditions they are living in. Although government opened a camp for the families at Bufupa Primary School, it lacks social amenities such as pit-latrines and clean water. The camp is about 200 metres from the mudslide site.
  • There are concerns over Uganda’s compensate for landowners affected by a pipeline that will transport oil to an Indian Ocean port after accusations that some people reimbursed for earlier public projects were left worse-off. There are worries that “community participation, livelihoods and land rights could be overlooked in a quest to meet the schedule for land acquisition” for the 1,445-kilometer (898-mile) conduit that will link Uganda’s western oilfields with Tanga in Tanzania.
  • Two travellers were killed and four critically injured in an ambush on Uganda on Tuesday, according to government officials. The travellers’ passenger vehicle was heading for the northeastern town of Soroti when it was ambushed by attackers suspected of being members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel movement.
  • Ugandan farmers adopt new techniques to deal with climate change and increased drought periods. Across Uganda, agriculture is mainly rain-fed, which means most small-scale farmers do not have irrigation systems that help them survive periods of drought. A new form of smart farming, defined by cutting-edge techniques, water-saving methods, and not as vulnerable as traditional farming to the vagaries of weather and will improve the economic situation of smaller family run farms.
Hudson Nsubuga, who teachs other farmers in Mukono District, Uganda about smart agriculture, poses for a portrait at a community farm. Nsubuga was demonstrating the farming innovations that he uses and teaches that help farmers adapt to changes in climate. (Patricia Lindrio / GPJ Uganda)
Back to News

Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities