http://www.IRINnews.org Updated every hour en-gb Sat, 4 Feb 2012 03:13:59 GMT United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks, http://www.IRINnews.org Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe's innovative AIDS levy - a 3 percent tax on income - has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years. HARARE, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe's innovative AIDS levy - a 3 percent tax on income - has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years. The levy was introduced in 1999 to compensate for declining donor support, but low salaries and the poor performance of industry meant not enough money had been collected - until recently. In its 2010 report on Zimbabwe's progress in implementing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by the General Assembly in 2001, the government admitted the levy was "essentially non-existent in 2007-2008 due to economic challenges the country was facing". [ http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/2010progressreportssubmittedbycountries/zimbabwe_2010_country_progress_report_en.pdf ] According to the organization’s recently published audited financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2010, a total of US$20.5 million was collected in 2010 against $5.7 million the previous year. Murombedzi Kuchera, chairman of the National AIDS Council Board, attributed the increase to improved revenue flows owing to improved political and economic stability in the country, which has created more jobs in the formal sector and improved tax remittances. Zimbabwe’s economy has witnessed steady growth following the formation of the coalition government of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe in 2009. “The 259 percent increase in the collections was mainly through the increased capacity utilization by industry and commerce,” Kuchera said in his statement. Although the revenue figures for 2011 have not yet been audited, the National AIDS Council estimates it collected about $25 million. However, the exact figure will be confirmed after the audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, which audits all the finances of parastatals, at the end of 2012. “The AIDS Levy is certainly proving to be a good source of funding for the country’s HIV and AIDS response,” National AIDS Council information and communication officer Orirando Manwere told IRIN/PlusNews. “Our projections are that for 2012, with the growing economic stability in the country, we will collect more than $30 million through the funds and even more in 2013. However, this is all largely dependent on economic growth," he added. Although 347,000 people are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the country, another 600,000 need the medication. The treatment gap widened after Zimbabwe adopted the new World Health Organization guidelines that recommend starting treatment earlier. The AIDS levy contributed almost a quarter of the money to purchase ARVs, while 76 percent of the treatment programme was financed by international donors such as the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the UK Department for International Development. But the country - one of the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS - still needs a lot more funding to cover the "worrying" treatment gap, cautioned HIV/AIDS activist Stanley Takaona. “Many people are dying because they cannot access treatment. Zimbabweans are playing their part to take care of their own by contributing to the AIDS Levy but this is not enough. Government must allocate funds from the fiscus to fund the HIV/AIDS response; it’s their responsibility,” he said. Kumbirai Mafunda, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, warned against complacency. “Yes, the increase in the AIDS Levy is remarkable but we all know it’s not enough... now government has to increase budget allocations to the health sector." st/kn/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94786 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94786 With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe's innovative AIDS levy - a 3 percent tax on income - has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>A month after an angry public launched protests across Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel prices due to the removal of a government subsidy, a measure of calm has returned and people seem to have settled into accepting a compromise. LAGOS, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - A month after an angry public launched protests across Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel prices due to the removal of a government subsidy, a measure of calm has returned and people seem to have settled into accepting a compromise. The removal of the subsidy on 1 January raised petrol prices from 65 naira to 141 naira (40 to 90 US cents) per litre, and led to sharp increases in food and transport costs. The public response was swift and widespread. Led by labour unions, professional groups and civil society, different communities across this nation of 167 million people marched through the streets, paralysing businesses and even threatening to shut down the oil industry. A stunned government backed down, settling for a 50 percent rather than a more than 100 percent hike in the fuel price. "Nigeria has never been this divided since the civil war, and yet the country has never been this united in protest in its history," said Hussaini Abdu, a public policy analyst and director of ActionAid Nigeria. [ http://www.actionaid.org/nigeria ] Many people see cheap fuel as one of the few benefits they get from an otherwise inefficient and corrupt government. The protesters were putting down a marker, say analysts. “Nigerians think that by paying more for fuel, they are only subsidizing corruption,” said Abdu. The government’s position is that removal of the subsidy would save US$8 billion a year which could then be spent on roads and social projects, and improve citizens’ lives. It says the subsidy only benefits middlemen, not the public, and supporters say the fuel subsidy favours the rich and encourages fuel smuggling to neighbouring countries. The government believes [ http://www.fmf.gov.ng/component/content/article/3-trendingnews/64-nigeria-shall-succeed-as-a-nation.html ] Nigerians will gain from deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector, and points to the planned or ongoing construction, completion and rehabilitation of railway lines, refineries, highways, hydro-electric stations, information technology and water supply systems. SURE These projects, which will benefit the public, are to be executed under a Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE), which also funds short-term social welfare programmes to cushion the impact of the subsidy removal. The degree to which the public will be convinced is debatable. Analysts say that apart from corruption, people showed unity in the protests out of bitterness at government policies which have left them poor: The minimum monthly wage increased in 2011 from the equivalent of US$46 to $112, but most Nigerians are paid less than this new wage level. The Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) [ http://www.cseaafrica.org/ ] says inflation caused by the fuel price rise could lead to poor people spending an even higher proportion of their income on food because they would be paying more for transport. (CSEA says food has the highest weight of 51 percent in Nigerian’s inflation basket; transport has the third highest weight of 7 percent.) CSEA also says a neutral stance by the Monetary Policy Committee, which sets monetary and credit policy, would help government’s efforts to boost the economy through its SURE programme and its emphasis on job creation. “In the medium term… prices may moderate as efforts are channelled towards addressing the infrastructure deficit in the economy through the SURE programme,” it adds. The government may have to demonstrate, rather quickly, that it is different from previous ones; that it is accountable; and is attuned to current public sentiment. Otherwise, the show of united public anger against the central government may spill onto the streets again. Safety consultant Jeff ‘vwede Obahor said the subsidy removal had brought Nigerians to a tipping point, and all they wanted now was good governance. "It's like a champagne effect; too many things have been going down and this is the last straw." yi/oss/cb © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94787 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94787 A month after an angry public launched protests across Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel prices due to the removal of a government subsidy, a measure of calm has returned and people seem to have settled into accepting a compromise.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>The UN and its partners have revised upwards their emergency appeal for storm-affected Mindanao to US$39 million from the original $28.4 million. MANILA, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - The UN and its partners have revised upwards their emergency appeal for storm-affected Mindanao [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/OCHA%20Press%20Release%2C%20launch%20of%20the%20Revised%20Flash%20Appeal%2C%203%20Feb.pdf ] to US$39 million from the original $28.4 million. The second emergency revision of the Humanitarian Action Plan for Mindanao (HAP) [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2012%20revised%20HAP-%20Philippines%20with%20new%20ER%20response%20plan%20_1_.pdf ] was revised on 3 February, [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/full_report_141.pdf ], allowing for continued vital assistance to more than 300,000 people over a six-month period. "We focused on the immediate evacuation in the early days... We now need to ensure that we accelerate the safe, voluntary and early return and relocation of the displaced," David Carden, country head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) [ http://ochaonline.un.org/PhilippinesCountryProfile/tabid/4261/Default.aspx ], told IRIN in Manila. The move comes in response to what has been described as a "dramatic increase of needs" more than a month after tropical storm Washi struck northern parts of the island. More than 1,200 people lost their lives and another million were affected when Washi struck on 16-18 December [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94554 ], triggering flash floods and landslides. Worst affected were the two major cities, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, in the north of the island, along with hundreds of villages in the area, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) [ http://www.ndrrmc.gov.ph/ ]. Tens of thousands were driven into hastily erected evacuation centres, many of them schools [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94613 ], where they were provided with basic needs such as food, clothing, medicine and shelter after the government and aid organizations launched a large-scale relief operation for more than 400,000 people. According to OCHA, about $9.6 million (or 25 percent) of the initial appeal, including $3 million disbursed from the Central Emergency Fund (CERF) [ http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?alias=ochaonline.un.org/cerf ], has been provided to date; however, outside bilateral donations from various governments amounting to $22 million had also helped significantly in the humanitarian effort. But while donations continue to come in, the challenge in reaching those living in hard-to-reach communities remains. "There are people in some remote rural areas who are still quite vulnerable, who certainly are in need of humanitarian assistance," Carden said, citing the pressing need for shelter [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94658 ]. In a statement on 3 February, the UN said: "Sustained assistance is needed given that hundreds of thousands of people remain without homes and livelihoods." Under the revised appeal, priority will be given to all affected, including the displaced in evacuation centres and transitional sites as well as people seeking refuge in makeshift shelters and with relatives in areas where their houses stood prior to the disaster and host communities themselves. "Many lives have been saved through our interventions to date," Jacqui Badcock, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Philippines, said. "But, unless this assistance is sustained and adequate shelter solutions are provided to all the displaced, many will remain vulnerable and unable to sustain themselves and their families." Malnutrition Underscoring those needs further, on 1 February [ http://reliefweb.int/node/474255 ], the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern over acute malnutrition rates in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. "Malnutrition is an especially serious concern for Mindanao, where a significant number of children are already undernourished," Abdul Alim, acting UNICEF country representative, said, describing this as an additional blow to these children's health. During a recent screening supported by UNICEF, 207 children were found to be acutely malnourished - a 50 percent increase compared with a screening carried out at the beginning of the emergency. It said the children diagnosed were afflicted with "wasting" - when muscles and fat waste away. "A child has a 30 percent chance of dying if it is left untreated," UNICEF warned. fz/ds/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94784 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94784 The UN and its partners have revised upwards their emergency appeal for storm-affected Mindanao to US$39 million from the original $28.4 million.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease. LONDON, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease. Collecting data on malaria deaths is notoriously tricky; the countries where the disease is most prevalent have the weakest statistics. And even where causes of death were recorded, the researchers found many deaths were simply attributed to “fever” – probably malaria, but possibly not. In addition, a malaria infection is often a contributory cause of death along with other health problems. However, after some complicated number-crunching, researchers, based at the Institute for Health Metrics in Seattle, believe they have produced the best estimates so far of how many people in the world die of malaria. The figures, published in the London-based medical journal, The Lancet, [ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60034-8/fulltext ] produced some surprises, principally because they are significantly higher than those issued last year by the World Health Organization (WHO) – more than eight times higher in the case of older children and adults in Africa, where most of the deaths occurred. The difference was smaller in the case of children under five, but the researchers said they believed malaria was a more important cause of death in under-fives than the 2011 World Malaria Report estimated, causing 24 percent of child deaths in Africa. Christopher Murray and his colleagues said they believed the fact that almost half a million extra deaths occurred in adults and older children each year had practical implications. “Traditional teaching in most medical schools argues that acquired immunity [in endemic areas] means that adults have clinical malaria, but are not likely to die from it. Inspection of the basic... data, however, clearly shows a substantial percentage of malaria deaths in individuals aged 15 years and over, even in endemic areas such as sub-Saharan Africa.” In the light of this they suggest a shift of control strategies to pay more attention to all adults, not just women and children, in the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets. The research also tracked malaria deaths through time, from 1980 to 2010. Global malaria deaths almost doubled between 1980 and 2004; child deaths in Africa almost tripled over the same period. The researchers suggest the HIV/AIDS epidemic and resistance to chloroquine as probable causes, along with an increase in population in malaria-endemic areas. After that the number of deaths started to fall, although they are still not down to 1980 levels. The results of hard-fought campaigns, and the resources provided by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, do show up in the figures. The authors say “the risk of malaria death in several countries that have scaled up control efforts, such as Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, has decreased between 2000 and 2010 figures”. The reverses of the 1980s and 1990s signal the fragility of the gains in the war against malaria, and the researchers say this underscores the danger posed by the world economic crisis, and the slowdown in health funding. They conclude: “The announcement by the Global Fund [in November] that their next round of funding would be cancelled raises enormous doubts as to whether the gains in malaria mortality reduction can be built on or even sustained.” Sarah Kline, executive director of Malaria No More UK, told IRIN this fragility of funding, especially from the Global Fund, was a big source of discussion and anxiety for the whole malaria community. “The total funding gap for malaria, from all sources, if we are going to meet our 2015 targets, is around US$3 billion a year, although we did have some positive announcements at Davos about extra funding from the Gates Foundation, and the governments of Saudi Arabia and Japan.” The funding gap was also addressed by the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when she was elected to head the African Leaders' Malaria Alliance on 2 February, and urged African countries to step up their own funding for control campaigns and find innovative sources of finance to close the gap. eb/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94796 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94796 A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>On 3 February, judges in the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC) – more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge trials – sentenced Kaing Guek Eav (“Duch”), the former chairman of the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng security prison, to life in prison. PHNOM PENH, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - On 3 February, judges in the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC) – more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge trials – sentenced Kaing Guek Eav (“Duch”), the former chairman of the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng security prison, to life in prison. This ruling overturned a 2010 sentence of 35 years, which civil party lawyers had appealed. Mental health experts are monitoring the impact of such rulings and the entire judicial process on survivors due to the particularities of this tribunal; its rules grant them a larger role than in any previous international criminal tribunal, prompting longstanding questions about whether truth-seeking hurts or heals war wounds. In addition to testifying as witnesses to corroborate the prosecution’s case, survivors of Cambodia’s 1975-1979 genocide can also share their suffering with the court as “civil parties” entitled to “collective and moral reparations”. “You have two camps, those who say justice can magically heal and others who say there is a risk of re-traumitization, which requires extraordinary measures be taken to protect victims [during proceedings],” said Jeffrey Sonis, a medical researcher from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, who has specialized in the psychosocial consequences of human rights abuses, and mechanisms to promote justice following conflict. With support from the US National Institutes of Health, Sonis interviewed 1,800 people in all 24 of Cambodia’s provinces in 2009 and again in 2010, before and after Duch’s trial, to learn whether and how the trial affected survivors’ mental health. While unable to discuss his findings before publication, he said they fell between the two extreme views of how justice-seeking mechanisms may affect health. In earlier research published in 2009, Sonis found that although most of the 1,000 Cambodians he interviewed hoped the trials would promote justice, 87 percent of those older than 35 believed the trials would bring back painful memories. Double-edged sword “The trial is a double-edged sword,” said Sotheara Chhim, a psychiatrist and executive director of one of the few local NGOs devoted to mental health,Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO), and an expert witness called before this tribunal for mental health matters. “It may be both catharsis and re-traumitization.” When survivors retell their stories, listen to others as well as lawyers for the former Khmer Rouge senior cadre, painful memories and emotions may resurface, said Sotheara. But this “dark period” should not last long, he added. “But after that, I think they found that the process of testifying had a therapeutic effect. A lot said [that] after testifying, they became relaxed like they [had] let go of a heavy load [they had carried] for a long time.” The “bad feelings” can come back, said Sotheara, for example, when an undesired verdict is pronounced, but this is “the normal path in the process toward justice, which is not easy and [can be] a bumpy road”. One out of four people who participated in Duch’s first trial reported “quite a bit” or “very much” negativity, such as disappointment and anger, following the announcement of the first verdict, according to a study published in 2010 by the Berlin Centre for the Treatment of Torture Victims, in collaboration with TPO. Civil parties On 26 July 2010, judges sentenced Duch to 35 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity, minus five years for the time he was illegally jailed by the Cambodian military court. Because he had already served 11 years in detention, he would have had less than 19 years to serve of his sentence. The verdict also rejected 24 survivors’ applications to be included as civil parties, due to a lack of evidence proving they were affected by the crime. After recognizing a photo of her uncle during a 2008 visit to Tuol Sleng, where she said he had been detained and executed, Hong Savath, 47, tried to join the case against Duch. But in rejecting her application, judges said “neither this photograph nor any documentary evidence was provided as proof of her uncle’s detention at S-21 [Tuol Sleng]. Party [Hong], who was 11 years of age when her uncle disappeared, has also not provided evidence of any special bonds of affection or dependency in relation to her uncle.” Her lawyer, whose work is funded by the German government, appealed. Gang-raped by the Khmer Rouge – her oldest son is now 31 – and forced to witness her parents killed by bayonet, Hong fell into depression after the July 2010 verdict. “I felt surprised and sorrow I was not selected,” she told IRIN. Days before the 3 February court appeal verdict announcement, Hong said she feared the worst of her depression would return in the courtroom. “I am worried Duch will deny his guilt. I am afraid I will lose control. I do not know if I can bear the intense emotion.” On appeal, the court accepted her application to be a civil party. When asked why she risked rejection and depression repeatedly to join the cases against the Khmer Rouge, she told IRIN: “I am the only survivor in my family and want to show this suffering to the world, especially the UN.” Those sharing this conviction may be plentiful, but relatively few of the genocide survivors who are still alive are participating, noted a recent publication by the local Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-CAM) on trauma psychology. Opting out As of May 2010, 8,200 people had applied to join the court’s first two cases. “What can the court really do for us?” said Nyrola Ung, 58, who chose not to participate. She lost her husband and more than 100 other family members. After escaping to neighbouring Thailand in 1980, and then seeking asylum in the US, she returned to Cambodia last year in an attempt to visit the location where she escaped death and to confront her loss. Sareth Mon, 58, also based in the capital, said she did not have time. A mother of two at the time the Khmer Rouge took her husband away in 1979, she lost her one-month-old baby when she could not produce any more breast milk to keep her alive. “It is good to have trials, but it seems like a long time ago. The trial can relieve suffering – some people lost their entire families. I know I have a right to tell my story to the court, but I cannot attend because I am busy raising a family.” One of the first to submit a testimony to the court, Theary Seng, 40, withdrew as a civil party in late 2011, calling the trials “a political farce” that risked raising expectations and harming an already, as she put it, “cynical public”. A US-trained lawyer trying to set up a civic education NGO in Cambodia, Seng was orphaned at eight when her mother was killed in Svay Rieng Province bordering Vietnam. Reparations For “collective and moral reparations” (because court rules do not allow financial reparations), the court had granted survivors’ requests to compile and distribute Duch’s apologies and “statements of remorse” - but not a state apology, construction of memorials, free healthcare, preservation of former torture sites or a national commemoration day, stating that civil party lawyers had provided insufficient detail, or the request fell outside the court’s jurisdiction. This decision was upheld on 3 February, as judges explained how the court as a “unique system” cannot grant anything that requires government input. In a 2010 analysis of 4,000 survivors’ official complaints at the court, 18 percent requested medical services, 16 percent improved infrastructure, 16 percent school construction, 12 percent individual reparations and 13 percent religious ceremonies, according to the DC-CAM. But even without reparations, eight out of 10 Cambodians surveyed nationwide in 2008 and again in 2010 by the law school at University of California Berkeley said it was important to know the truth and that national reconciliation was impossible without more information gleaned from the trials. And while it hurts to listen to testimonies and see history rehashed in the media, graduate management student at Pannasastra University, Ok Pirum, 25, said: “If I had to choose between the pain of knowing and no pain from not knowing, I would choose pain.” pt/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94790 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94790 On 3 February, judges in the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC) – more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge trials – sentenced Kaing Guek Eav (“Duch”), the former chairman of the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng security prison, to life in prison.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>The belief that the end is nigh for Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - a small but ruthless transnational armed group operating in four African states - underestimates its resilience and overestimates the unity and capability of the forces ranged against it, say analysts. JOHANNESBURG, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - The belief that the end is nigh for Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) - a small but ruthless transnational armed group operating in four African states - underestimates its resilience and overestimates the unity and capability of the forces ranged against it, say analysts. The LRA is seen as being in “survival mode”. It has a lightly armed 250-strong militia dispersed across a territory half the size of France, and uses “terror” tactics to subdue local populations and is facing a coordinated response from the armies of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Uganda and the USA. In recent weeks African Union (AU) special envoy for affairs relating to the LRA Francisco Madeira, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Abou Moussa have toured Kinshasa, Bangui, Juba and Kampala to discuss regional military cooperation, following authorization from the AU Peace and Security Council in November 2011, with the support of the UN, for them to deal decisively with the LRA. Ashley Benner, a policy analyst at the Enough Project [ http://www.enoughproject.org ] - a US NGO lobbying for an end to mass atrocity crimes - told IRIN: “The proposed AU intervention force will consist of approximately 3,500-5,000 troops from the four affected countries. The mandate and goals of the mission are to end the LRA, protect civilians, and lead to security and stability in the affected countries.” The USA has deployed about 100 military advisers - they carry weapons for self-defence only - to assist the region’s military forces, but Benner said this would not be sufficient. “The advisers need to be bolstered by more capable troops, greater intelligence and logistical capabilities, including helicopters, improved collaboration between regional forces, and increased efforts to encourage LRA members to leave the group,” she added. Sandra Adong Oder, a senior researcher at the conflict management and peacebuilding unit at Pretoria-based think-tank the Institute for Security Studies, told IRIN the same military actors involved in previous and failed attempts to eradicate the LRA were involved in the AU initiative, and asked: “It [the initiative] may be doing more, [but] is it any different?” Top priority? The LRA was also not a top priority for the four affected countries: Kony’s forces, were no longer operating in Uganda; they were more than 1,000km from Kinshasa and so not seen as a key security issue for the DRC; they are not threatening any economic interests or political constituencies in CAR; and South Sudan was grappling with more urgent security considerations, said Oder. In a research note entitled The AU’s Regional Initiative Against the LRA: Prospects and Implications [ http://www.iss.org.za/iss_today.php?ID=1420 ] published on 30 January, Oder said: “The regional intervention force… is based on some assumptions that the LRA is an easy problem to solve, and that the insurgent group’s threat capability has been reduced. This may prove to be a grave mistake… “The new force should therefore not merely improve on existing military operations, but needs to refrain from merely duplicating operational structures and techniques that do not work, while at the same time leaving the military command in the hands of national governments, which could fuel suspicion and intraregional tensions within the alliance, which in turn could severely limit cooperation and coordination - and hence the AU’s overall ownership of the mission… “This time round, the consequences of another failure will be prohibitive, in the sense that once committed, the AU mission would then have to use all necessary force to avoid failure, and would be under immense pressure to escalate military involvement to ensure success,” the note said. The International Working Group on the LRA, in a World Bank June 2011 report entitled: Diagnostic Study of the Lord’s Resistance Army, [ http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&entityID=000386194_20111103040219 ] written by Philip Lancaster and Guillaume Lacaille, said: “It should be remembered that the LRA only has to survive to succeed… “As long as it [the LRA] is present, it is capable of generating insecurity in the region. To survive, it needs only to avoid, as much as possible, direct contact with superior armed forces and continue to resupply itself from vulnerable civilians. As long as it retains the freedom to choose the time and place of its attacks, it retains the tactical and strategic initiative,” the World Bank report said. In the past month, LRA Crisis Tracker, [ http://www.lracrisistracker.com ] a real-time mapping platform for crimes committed by Kony’s forces, has attributed six deaths and 14 abductions to the armed group. Ugandan leadership? Uganda, the regional military power, is expected to take the lead role in the military operations by virtue of its acknowledged professionalism compared to the region’s other forces, and its close working relationship with US forces over the past few years, although its dominance in an intervention force could increase regional tensions, especially between Kampala and Kinshasa: Last year DRC President Joseph Kabila asked his counterpart Yoweri Museveni to halt operations in his country against the LRA by the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), and it is unclear how this impasse will be resolved. Oder said although the Ugandan army was “overstretched” with its commitments to the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), it had a personnel score to settle with the LRA, after previous encounters had exposed the “weaknesses, corruption and competences” of the UPDF. “It’s about saving face and pride,” she said. A 2 February 2012 Enough Project report entitled Ensuring Success: Four Steps Beyond US Troops to End the War with the LRA [ http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/ensuring-success-four-steps-beyond-us-troops-end-war-lra ] by Sasha Lezhnev, said Uganda’s best troops were in Somalia and it did not have any bases in the DRC. “Some 90 percent of LRA attacks over the past six months have taken place in [DR] Congo… The shortage of troops is also hurting civilian protection efforts, which are in urgent need of a boost.” Skilled bush fighters The bush fighting skills of LRA fighters have been masked and overshadowed by their reputation as a ragtag bunch of bandits, marauding and raping, reliant on abducted children brainwashed into soldiering under Kony, and with an absolute disregard for human rights. The LRA is responsible for thousands of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people across the four-country region. “We have ample evidence from reports of the past 20 years that the LRA are a force to be reckoned with. Ruthless as they are, their tactics are well adapted to the terrain and the nature of the forces they face,” Philip Lancaster - former head of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration division of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the predecessor of the current UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), and coordinator of the UN Group of Experts on the Congo - said in an August 2011 article entitled the Lord’s Resistance Army and Us. [ http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2011/08/guest-blog-lords-resistance-army-and-us.html ] “The LRA make deliberate use of terror to tie up military forces and survive by hit-and-run attacks that are well-planned and flawlessly executed,” he wrote. LRA fighters value reconnaissance, are skilled in ambush techniques and the evasion of air surveillance, are trained in both irregular and regular forms of warfare and have adapted to different climatic regions from rainforests to arid wastelands. “Their extraordinary ability to survive, even when constantly on the move, gives LRA fighters an edge over all pursuing armies,” the World Bank report said. The notion that the LRA’s estimated 250 fighters and their dispersal into small cells indicates weakness, is misleading, the World Bank report said. “While the LRA has been weakened over the past two years, it is premature to regard them as lacking capacity, since the number of the core fighters is not much lower now than what it has been throughout the years.” The response to any concerted military effort against them is likely to be accompanied by the LRA’s “very crude way of operating” in using civilians as targets, Oder said. Civilian protection The Ugandan 2008 offensive against the LRA, Operation Lightning Thunder, resulted in a sharp rise in the number of LRA attacks on civilians, rather than a drop-off: There were two successive Christmas massacres in 2008 and 2009. “These events, particularly the massacre of December 2009 in the Makombo area of Haut Uélé, DRC, provoked questions about the wisdom of offensive operations against the LRA without adequate accompanying measures to protect civilians in the area of operations,” The World Bank report said. “The military response from UN peacekeeping and national forces has been totally inadequate insofar as they focus on providing limited static defence of a small number of civilian settlements. The LRA just find the ones that aren’t protected. Since none of the armies deployed have a policy of pursuit after attack, the LRA consistently escape with loot and abducted recruits,” says Lancaster’s article. “A major component of the military operations to apprehend Kony and his senior leadership should be civilian protection,” said Benner. Kony, an indicted war criminal, has also received an unexpected boost from the undermining of Uganda’s Amnesty Act with the trial of former LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo, [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93377 ] which “is further worsening chances that LRA fighters will come out; the case has sparked fear of prosecution among the LRA ranks,” the Enough Project report said. The UN Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement (UNDDRR) exercise has been viewed as a major weapon in deconstructing the LRA through its propaganda campaign to encourage defections. The Enough Project report quoted a former LRA captain who had defected from the armed group. “I spent 18 years with Kony. The only thing that can be effective now against the LRA is the gun. Don’t leave the UPDF alone - the international community should step in. US advisers won’t be effective, though. You need joint troops from other countries. Kony doesn’t fear the US advisers because he knows the number [of Ugandan troops and US advisers] now is small. One LRA unit can defeat 10 UPDF units.” go/cb © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94794 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94794 The belief that the end is nigh for Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - a small but ruthless transnational armed group operating in four African states - underestimates its resilience and overestimates the unity and capability of the forces ranged against it, say analysts.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>Ten little-known but debilitating diseases will be high on the agenda of the world's pharmaceutical chiefs, health ministers and donor governments after they pledged their support for a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative to wipe out guinea worm, river blindness, trachoma, leprosy, bilharzia and intestinal worms, among other "neglected" diseases. LONDON, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - Ten little-known but debilitating diseases will be high on the agenda of the world's pharmaceutical chiefs, health ministers and donor governments after they pledged their support for a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative [ http://www.unitingtocombatntds.org/downloads/press/ntd_event_london_declaration_on_ntds.pdf ] to wipe out guinea worm, river blindness, trachoma, leprosy, bilharzia and intestinal worms, among other "neglected" diseases. Caroline Anstey, a managing director of the World Bank, told the delegates at the meeting in London: “We are not really talking about neglected diseases; we are talking about neglected people. I think that is very key, and it is all about how and if and whether we value them.” The participants on 30 January pledged to support the WHO programme [ http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/en/ ] for controlling or eliminating these diseases by 2020, promising more research and an increased supply of free drugs. In turn, donor governments and private philanthropists, including Bill Gates, promised to support the delivery of the drugs and strengthen the health systems of the affected countries to run control and eradication programmes. Health ministers from Mozambique, Bangladesh and Brazil attended the meeting. Working on these diseases has been frustrating because they are not incurable. Drugs to treat them exist. But these drugs have been too expensive or in short supply, or only available in a form that is difficult to use. The key to this initiative is that the organizers, especially Gates, have brought the drug companies on board. “The drug suppliers are willing to be generous,” he said, “But they need to know there is a road map which comes from the WHO; they need to know that there is delivery funding which comes from people like DFID [UK Department for International Development] and USAID; and they need to know that the countries involved are going to orchestrate their health systems to make sure that all the drugs really get to the people in need.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$340 million over the next five years, partly to fund research into better treatment and partly to support delivery programmes. Gates managed to persuade the companies to do things they would never normally consider, like giving away their products for nothing. Haruo Naito, president and CEO of the Japanese company Esai, which produces drugs for Lymphatic Filariasis, commonly known as Elephantiasis, set out the problem: “Our company is going to spend something like $35 million for this project. How can we persuade our shareholders? Well, we tell them it is a long-term investment for the people, for societies and for the economies of developing countries, to lift them up to become middle-income countries in the future.” The issue of collaborative research was even trickier. Christopher Viebacher, head of Sanofi, which is researching improved drugs for sleeping sickness, said: “We are competitors. It's not that easy for us to work together commercially. And now you are talking about research and development, which is really where the core secrets of companies are. Sharing our libraries of compounds is extraordinarily difficult and it is only because of the great need that we have been able to get together, and this is where Bill Gates has played such a critical role in catalyzing it.” Voices of dissent However, there were warnings that even an unlimited supply of free and suitable drugs would not in themselves be enough. Daniel Berman of Médecins sans Frontières [ http://www.msfaccess.org/sites/default/files/MSF_assets/NegDis/Docs/NTD_briefing_UnitingCombatNTDs_ENG_2012.pdf ] said that while his organization was delighted these neglected diseases were finally getting more attention, “We are concerned that the challenges for some of these diseases are being glossed over.” MSF cited the example of sleeping sickness, which was virtually eliminated in the early 1960s but returned with a vengeance in the 1990s as elimination efforts were not sustained. It wants to see more emphasis on programme support and surveillance capacity in affected countries. And in a letter to the London-based medical magazine, The Lancet, two academics, Tim Allen of the London School of Economics, and Melissa Parker of Brunel University [ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60159-7/fulltext ], raised another issue – the practical problems associated with mass medication. The control or eradication of many of these diseases would entail treating whole villages, even those not infected, sometimes many times over, to wipe out the pool of infection. They found people in Tanzania, where this kind of programme was introduced, were suspicious and often hostile. “After multiple rounds of mass drug administration for Lymphatic Filariasis, the vast majority of the people interviewed... were unaware of the link between the disease and mosquitoes, and at best had a very limited understanding of the rationale for mass treatment. They asked why people with no visible symptoms should take tablets... It is hardly surprising that rumours circulate about the real purpose of the drugs.” Some of those involved in administering the programme were chased and beaten and had to be rescued by police. “The provision of free and subsidized drugs,” they conclude, “creates a window of opportunity to make a massive difference. But the availability of tablets is not enough.” eb/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94788 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94788 Ten little-known but debilitating diseases will be high on the agenda of the world's pharmaceutical chiefs, health ministers and donor governments after they pledged their support for a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative to wipe out guinea worm, river blindness, trachoma, leprosy, bilharzia and intestinal worms, among other "neglected" diseases.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT ]]>Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions. ISIOLO, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions. The main two pastoralist communities involved, the Borana and the Gabra, have a long history of sometimes violent competition over resources.  But by many accounts, an unintended consequence of Kenya’s new devolutionary constitution has raised the stakes considerably. The prospect of real political and budgetary power - concentrated since independence in distant Nairobi - rather than water, pasture and cattle-raid vendettas, now drives the violence. “Every conflict in 2012 will have political and ethnic implications and can therefore not be treated as normal criminal activity,” Mzalendo Kibunjia, chairman of the National Cohesion and Commission (NCIC), said in a recent statement [ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=172600292840170&id=133856426714557 ]. The NCIC is a government entity set up in 2008 to eliminate ethnic discrimination and promote inter-communal reconciliation. “The conflicts in northern Kenya must be treated as electoral related and not be dismissed as conflict over water, pasture and cattle rustling. The NCIC has established that the ongoing violent conflicts [in Moyale and Isiolo http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94312 ] are politically motivated in anticipation of the 2012 elections,” Kibunjia said. However, presidential, legislative and local elections might not be held until early 2013 according to a recent High Court ruling. The Kenya Red Cross added: [ http://www.kenyaredcross.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251&Itemid=124 ] “The trigger of the current conflict is allegedly competition over positions in the county government structures as designated in the new Kenyan constitution and land-related issues.” Incitement  The spate of sporadic clashes is thought to have been sparked by a single killing in early November just across the border with Ethiopia.  Since then, political leaders from each community have allegedly incited violence against the other, regardless of whether those members are combatants. “Different communities used to share mixed schools, mixed waterholes, mixed shopping centres, mixed everything. Now they can’t be on the same street together,” said one aid worker, who recently visited the town. Several political leaders, including a former member of parliament, have been arrested on suspicion of fuelling the increasingly generalized conflict. “Here, a politician can kill his opponents, it happens every [election] year, but not a single politician or trader known to have planned and killed people has ever been convicted,” Aba Dika, an elder in Moyale, told IRIN. However, Eastern Province Police Commander Marcus Ochola told IRIN such impunity was on the way out. “I am confident our officers, who are still collecting additional evidence, will support strong cases against those responsible for these skirmishes,” he said. Another police official said detectives were investigating reports that some suspects had used social media to incite violence and congratulate kinsmen when prominent members of rival communities had been killed. Aid workers who visited Moyale said hundreds of houses had been burnt and that crops, livestock and property had been destroyed. There have also been reports of shortages and increasing food prices due to the interruption of transport and the closure or destruction of shops. Thousands of people – insecurity has prevented an accurate assessment - have been displaced from their homes, with many fleeing into southern Ethiopia. The Red Cross estimates that 9,500 families – some 57,000 people – have fled, 60 people have been killed and more than 1,000 houses burnt. The worst-affected areas include the settlements of Heilu, Kinisa, Buthye, Bori, Mansile, Illadu, Manyatta and Odda. Traumatized  “The extent of displacement now and the indiscriminate targeting of the violence – women, children and older persons, any member of the [rival] community has been killed – have left people really traumatized,” said one humanitarian official, who asked not to be named. “The fear is that between now and elections [we] will see displacement and returns, displacement and returns, with nothing really in balance. There won’t be much room for manoeuvre until some sort of political solution is agreed upon. That seems very far away right now, from what we have seen,” he added. “It’s not easy to arrange peace meetings when the parties are so mistrustful and fearful of the other’s intentions. Willingness and commitment are not there at the moment, it seems. Willingness to cease hostilities has been very low. It’s quite tragic,” said the aid worker. Education blow Education has been badly affected in Moyale, with 18 of the area’s 31 schools yet to reopen after the Christmas break and many school-age children among the displaced, either in Ethiopia or in makeshift camps. Livestock trader Abduba Wario said his income had dried up because the town’s livestock market was closed and he had been unable to send his two daughters to school in the central Kenyan town of Meru. "It's risky, no trucks are available. I appeal to the government and NGOs to provide all school-children with transport and police escorts for learning in other parts of the country," he said. The state of education facilities serves as an important indicator of the wider security climate, according to the aid worker. “Children returning to school is the first step in terms of reconciliation, a return to normality. If it is safe for children to go to school it is also safe for health workers and others to return to their posts,” he said. Amid reports that leaders of warring communities have mobilized across the porous border, Kenyan security forces are working with those from Ethiopia. "We are liaising with our counterparts in Ethiopia to trace the fighters who fled when Kenyan security officers were deployed to quell the fight,” said a security official, who asked not to be named.  na-aw-am/mw © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94789 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94789 Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions.]]> Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:02:02 GMT IRIN/PlusNews weekly news and analysis round-up Issue 558 for 3 February 2012 NAIROBI, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - 94786,94777,94781,94771 © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94793 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94793 IRIN weekly humanitarian round-up 616 3 February 2012]]>