Demining on hold in Senegal’s Casamance Region

ZIGUINCHOR, 24 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Demining has been halted in southern Senegal’s Casamance Region after 12 deminers were taken hostage by fighters with the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (MFDC) on 3 May. full report

Concern for Syrians stuck at Jordanian border

AMMAN/DUBAI, 24 May 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - Thousands of people are gathering in villages in southern Syria, unable to seek refuge in Jordan either because of insecurity along the border or, according to some, new Jordanian security measures. In the meantime, some of them are living “between the mosques and the streets” without enough food and water, amid daily violence. 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

Libyans in North Africa scared to return home

CAIRO, 16 May 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - Until government and revolutionary forces attacked the Libyan town of Bani Walid, about 170km southeast of the capital Tripoli in October last year, Abdullah Warfella had been determined never to leave. full report

Humanitarian intervention in violence-hit slums - from whether to how

RIO DE JANEIRO, 15 May 2013 (IRIN Global) - In a move that experts say could open the door to a more robust aid response to chronic violence in urban areas, the European Commission’s humanitarian aid arm, ECHO, has approved 2 million euro in funding for interventions in cases of violence outside of conventional war in Central America and Mexico until the end of 2014. If large-scale aid work in so-called 'other situations of violence' is the way of the future, there are certain things humanitarian workers will have to keep in mind. full report

The price of fear

RIO DE JANEIRO, 15 May 2013 (IRIN Global) - In slums where killings, rape, kidnappings and other criminal violence are commonplace, say researchers, lives and livelihoods are hampered by a force that is tough to measure: Fear. full report

Boko Haram attacks hit school attendance in Borno State

KANO, NIGERIA, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Around 15,000 children in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, have stopped attending classes since February 2013, according to a Borno State Ministry of Education official who preferred anonymity, as Boko Haram extremists continue a wave of attacks on state schools. full report

Quelling xenophobia in South Africa's townships

PHILIPPI, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - This week marks five years since tensions between foreigners and South Africans living in impoverished communities across the country erupted in xenophobic violence, leaving more than 60 people dead and tens of thousands displaced, their homes and businesses robbed and abandoned. full report

Briefing: Towards internal solutions to the DRC crisis

KAMPALA, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - A UN intervention brigade will soon be deployed to the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a bid to neutralize militia groups operating there. full report