Congo fighting flares as hundreds shelter in convent – army, MSF
Goma, Democratic Republic of CongoReuters Fighters from the M23 rebel group clashed with the army in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday in a fourth day of violence in which four civilians have been killed, the army said. About 500 people, some of them injured, sought shelter in a convent in Ntamugenga village near […]
Ukrainian hospital works overtime as trauma trains evacuate war-wounded
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Reuters Since Russia invaded Ukraine, doctors at a military hospital in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia have stayed on the job for days at a time as waves of casualties are rushed to them for treatment from nearby frontline areas. On Wednesday, medics at the hospital prepped a wounded man for surgery to […]
Floods cut off communities in South Sudan’s Unity state
Juba, South SudanReuters Severe flooding has hit South Sudan’s northern state of Unity, cutting off communities from accessing supplies of food and other vital commodities, a state official said on Friday. More than 700,000 people have been affected by the worst flooding in the country for nearly 60 years, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said […]
Medical charity MSF condemns killing of one of its nurses in Nigeria
Maiduguri, NigeriaReuters Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has condemned the killing by unknown gunmen of a nurse it employed in Zamfara in north-west Nigeria, an area at the epicentre of a surge in violent crime in which thousands have been abducted. MSF said nurse Mohammad Hassan, 37, was killed on 2nd October when armed men […]
Afghanistan’s healthcare system near collapse, aid agencies warn
New Delhi, India/Hong KongReuters Afghanistan’s healthcare system is at risk of collapse, two major aid agencies told Reuters, after foreign donors stopped providing aid following the Taliban takeover. After the United States withdraw the bulk of its remaining troops last month, the Taliban accelerated its military campaign, taking control of the capital Kabul on 15th […]
Fighting displaces 200,000 in Ethiopia’s Amhara region – UN aid chief
Addis AbabaReuters United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday that accusations by Ethiopian authorities that aid workers were favouring and even arming Tigrayan forces were “dangerous”. “Blanket accusations [against] humanitarian aid workers need to stop…They need to be backed up by evidence if there is any and, frankly, it’s dangerous,” he said. An […]
Belgian Government announces breakthrough in migrant hunger strike
Brussels, BelgiumAP The Belgian Government announced a breakthrough Wednesday that it hoped would end a hunger strike by several hundred migrants seeking to collectively obtain legal residency. The chairman of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s Liberal party, Egbert Lachaert, said that under the outline of a deal those concerned would have their cases looked at […]
MSF denounces seizure of migrant rescue vessel in Italy
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday an MSF vessel that rescued hundreds of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean last month has been detained in Italy, suggesting the seizure was politically motivated. Thousands of migrants embark each year on the crossing, often departing in small, inflatable boats from Libya with […]
Three MSF employees killed in Ethiopia’s Tigray while WHO’s Tedros says air strike victims denied access to care
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia/Madrid, SpainReuters Three employees working for the Spanish branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were killed by unknown assailants in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the medical charity said on Friday. MSF-Spain lost contact with a vehicle carrying the team on Thursday afternoon, it said in a statement. “This morning the vehicle was found empty […]
Feeling abandoned by Europe, Greece hardens migration policy
Ritsona, GreeceReuters With walled camps and tougher border controls, Greece is hardening its approach ahead of summer when migrant arrivals pick up, defying criticism from aid groups and saying it has little choice given a lack of support from the rest of Europe. The squalid conditions facing many asylum-seekers were laid bare last year when […]