Governance

Careless food storage sidelines Swaziland’s hungry

MBABANE, 23 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Mounds of food aid intended for Swaziland’s food insecure were recently found rotting in the government’s main storage warehouses at the Matsapha Industrial Estate, about 25km east of the capital, Mbabane. full report

Analysis: Nigerians on the run as military combat Boko Haram

 KANO, 22 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Tens of thousands of residents of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State have fled their homes - thousands of them into neighbouring Niger and Cameroon - following airstrikes by Nigerian fighter jets on Boko Haram (BH) camps from 15 May. full report

The anatomy of a Mozambique land deal

 NIASSA, 22 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - A multi-million dollar “ethical” plantation development in northwestern Mozambique - the initiative of a clutch of Scandinavian faith-based organizations - has faced alleged acts of sabotage by the very people it was designed to assist, illustrating the divisions between foreign benefactors and local communities. full report

Filipino Muslim rebels take tentative steps towards governance

 MANILA, 21 May 2013 (IRIN Asia) - The oppressive summer heat bore down on this impoverished southern Philippine town on Mindanao Island as thousands gathered to hear a "proxy candidate" of the country's largest Muslim rebel force address the crowd on the eve of recently concluded mid-term elections. full report

Seeking safety in the city

 LONDON, 21 May 2013 (IRIN Global) - Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are forced from their homes by violence or natural disasters. But the face of displacement is changing: While the popular view of displacement is one of sprawling rural camps, displaced people are now just as likely to be living in urban areas, often hidden from view. full report

The changing face of land disputes in Liberia

 MONROVIA, 20 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - The Liberia Land Commission, which was set up in 2009 to help settle land disputes between returning refugees and their neighbours, is making significant headway, say land experts, but non-conflict related land disputes are increasing, most of them as a result of weak land laws. full report

Making WASH work in Burkina Faso’s cities

 OUAGADOUGOU, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Earlier this year Denis Ouedraogo, a tailor living in the Tampouy neighbourhood just north of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, connected his mud-walled home to the water network for the first time. “Even without electricity, having enough water can make you happy,” he said. full report

Challenges to improving health care in Pakistan

 LAHORE/DUBAI, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Asia) - Hamza Mazhar, a 35-year-old teacher from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, says he never wants to see the inside of a government hospital again. full report

Briefing: Restive northern Kenya sees shifting power, risks

 GARISSA-NAIROBI, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - The presence of foreign militias in parts of northeastern Kenya, and their collusion with security officials and business people there, may be to blame for a rise in insecurity in the region, where multiple gun and grenade attacks have been reported over the past two years. full report

Cape Town's asylum seekers struggle to get documented

 CAPE TOWN, 16 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - When Jean Baptiste*, a medical student from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in South Africa in September 2012, he headed straight for Cape Town, where he knew he would be able to stay with his brother. No one at the border told him that it was no longer possible to apply for asylum in Cape Town. full report

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