Wednesday 16 Oct 2024 {HMC} Nearly three million people have fled Sudan after 18 months of war in a still-growing exodus, the U.N. warned, with 25,000 fleeing to neighboring Chad in the first week of October alone.

Mamadou Dian Balde, the U.N.’s Sudan regional refugee coordinator, told AFP that the three-million mark will likely be crossed in the next two to three weeks.

That the figure is approaching three million is a “disaster” directly linked to the increasing brutality of the conflict, he said in an interview on Tuesday during a visit to Geneva.

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and some 26 million people facing severe food insecurity, with famine declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Some 11.3 million people have been forced to flee, including nearly 2.95 million who have fled across the country’s borders, according to the latest figures from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

Strain on Chad

In a sign of the worsening conflict in Darfur, some 25,000 people — 80% of whom were women and children — crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October, a record number for a single week in 2024.

And more than 20,270 crossed into Chad in the whole of September.

Chad is host to 681,944 Sudanese refugees — more than any other country.

However, it is also one of the poorest countries in the world and is lacking the basic services to accommodate such numbers, said Balde, while highlighting the generosity shown by Chadians towards their fleeing neighbors.

“When we see 25,000 arriving, it’s enormous,” he said.

He called for greater support from international donors.

A UN appeal for $1.51 billion to support Sudanese refugees and their hosts in the region through the end of the year remains just 27% funded.

“It’s not enough, because the number of refugees continues to grow,” said Balde, who also serves as the UNHCR’s East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regional director.

Balde said he expected “very unfortunately, in the coming weeks, to have many more refugees in Chad,” due to both the conflict intensifying in Darfur and the drop in water levels as the rainy season ends.

Aid still limited

With the drier conditions, the UN hopes to be able to deliver more aid to Sudan — if the parties to the conflict allow it.

Several rounds of negotiation efforts have so far failed to end the fighting.

In late August, following talks outside Geneva convened by the United States, the two factions committed to ensuring safe and unhindered access for humanitarians along two key corridors.

“This has helped us save lives,” but “not all the commitments made, have been respected” — and the flow of aid remains “limited,” said Balde, deploring the persistent “barriers at the administrative level.”

In Geneva this week for the UNHCR’s annual executive committee meeting, he chaired a discussion on Sudan, during which he asked for support to help Sudanese refugees get into the jobs market and thereby reducing their reliance on humanitarian assistance.

“We are asking development actors to mobilize to complement” such aid, he explained, while stressing the need for peace in Sudan.

Balde warned it would be “a big mistake” to think the flow of displaced people will be limited to Sudan and the wider region.

“There are more and more who are coming towards Italy, Europe and southern Africa,” and “there are some who will go towards the Gulf countries too,” he said.

SOURCE VOA 

Wednesday 16 Oct 2024 {HMC} A fuel tanker explosion in northern Nigeria has killed almost 100 people and left 50 injured, police said on Wednesday.

Many of the victims had been trying to collect fuel spilt on the road after the tanker crashed in northern Jigawa state late on Tuesday, police spokesman Lawan Shiisu Adam told AFP.

The tanker had veered to avoid colliding with a truck in the town of Majia, he said.

“We have so far confirmed 94 people dead and around 50 injured,” he said, warning the death toll could rise.

Following the crash, residents crowded around the vehicle, collecting fuel that had spilt on the road and in drains, Adam said.

He said the residents had “overwhelmed” officers trying to stop them.

The Nigerian Medical Association has urged doctors to rush to nearby emergency rooms to help with the influx of patients.

Fuel tanker explosions are common in Africa’s most populous nation, where roads can be poorly maintained and residents often look to siphon off fuel following accidents.

Fuel has become an even more precious commodity as Nigeria suffers its worst economic crisis in a generation.

The price of petrol has soared fivefold since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scrapped subsidies last year, and there are often shortages.

Desperation rose further last week after the state oil company hiked prices for the second time in just over a month.

Dangerous roads

Accidents involving tankers are frequent in the country, with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) recording 1,531 in 2020, causing 535 deaths.

Last month, at least 59 people died when a fuel tanker collided with a truck carrying passengers and cattle in northwestern Niger state.

The FRSC said more than 5,000 people died in road accidents in Nigeria in 2023, compared to nearly 6,500 the previous year.

But according to the World Health Organization, the figures do not include accidents that are not reported to the authorities.

It estimates annual road accident deaths in Nigeria to be closer to 40,000, it said in a report published last year.

Deadly fires and explosions also take place across fuel and oil infrastructure in Nigeria, one of the continent’s largest crude producers.

SOURCE VOA

Wednesday 16 Oct 2024 {HMC} Kenya’s deputy president, who faces impeachment, pleaded not guilty in a senate hearing Wednesday to all allegations including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and support for anti-government protests that saw demonstrators storm the country’s parliament.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has called the allegations politically motivated, could be the first sitting deputy president impeached in Kenya.

The case highlights the friction between him and President William Ruto — something that Ruto once vowed to avoid after his past troubled relationship as deputy to Kenya’s previous president, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Gachagua has said he believes the impeachment process has Ruto’s blessing, and has asked legislators to make their decision “without intimidation and coercion.”

The tensions risk introducing more uncertainty for investors and others in East Africa’s commercial hub.

Court rulings this week allowed the parliament and senate to proceed with the impeachment debate, despite concerns over irregularities raised by the deputy president’s lawyers.

The impeachment motion was approved in parliament last week and forwarded to the senate. Gachagua’s legal team will have Wednesday and Thursday to cross-examine witnesses, and the senate will vote Thursday evening.

The senate requires a two-thirds majority to approve the impeachment motion.

Under the Kenyan Constitution, the removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers, though Gachagua can challenge the action in court — something he has said he would do.

Kenya’s president has yet to publicly comment on the impeachment process. Early in his presidency, he said he wouldn’t publicly humiliate his deputy.

Ruto, who came to office claiming to represent Kenya’s poorest citizens, has faced widespread criticism for his efforts to raise taxes in an effort to find ways to pay off foreign creditors. But the public opposition led him to shake up his cabinet and back off certain proposals.

SOURCE VOA

Arbaco 16-Octo-2024 {HMC} The U.S. agency charged with protecting the life of the president of the United States and other high-ranking officials wants state and local law enforcement to do more to stop potential threats from escalating into violence.

And it is trying to show police agencies across the country exactly how to do it.

The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) on Wednesday issued a new guide, encouraging law enforcement agencies to create specific units to address threatening behavior in cases where there are significant concerns, even though no laws have been broken.

The guide specifically calls for police agencies to set up what NTAC calls behavioral threat assessment units that can assess potential dangers and then provide resources to make sure individuals get help before they resort to violence.

“What our research has continuously found is that in many cases of mass violence or other forms of targeted violence, the attacker’s behavior was witnessed by community bystanders, some of whom sought to report their concerns to public safety officials,” said Lina Alathari, NTAC director, briefing reporters ahead of the guide’s release.

“Unfortunately, many communities lack the structured systems to receive, evaluate and respond to these reports in a way that would reduce the likelihood of a violent or tragic outcome,” she said.

NTAC’s plea for law enforcement agencies to find ways to be more proactive is not new.

A January 2023 report that analyzed 173 mass attacks carried out over a five-year period urged communities to make it easier for witnesses to report concerns and allow for earlier intervention from crisis counselors and social services.