Sunday 13 Oct 2024 {HMC} Humanitarian groups in Cameroon are visiting homes and villages in remote areas this week to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, advising women to go to hospitals for free screening and treatment.

About 60% of the more than 7,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Cameroon this year have died because they were late in getting to hospitals, officials say. Breast cancer deaths are highly unreported because families abandon women to die at home.

Thirty-year-old history student Emilie Nadege Atangana told a group of women and girls at the University of Yaounde 1 campus how she was psychologically and emotionally traumatized after receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2020.

Most of her relatives, friends and fellow students said she would not live long and abandoned her, she said.

Atangana said she found hope when medical staff members of the Yaounde Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital told her that 90% of early-stage breast cancers are curable.

Cameroonian government officials and humanitarian groups say cancer survivors such as Atangana have been sent to towns and villages as part of activities marking “Pink Month.”

The World Health Organization designates October as Pink Month, a time to teach people about cancer, including early identification and signs and symptoms.

Forty-two-year-old Mesode Ngwese Agbaw, a cancer survivor, said people should stop hiding cancer patients at home to die because of the false belief that cancer cannot be treated.

“You don’t need to hide alone with your pain,” she said. “Share it with somebody, and the people will be ready to help you. I was operated on and after the operation, I have been following treatment and till now, I am fine.”

This year’s theme for the month in Cameroon is “No one Should Face Breast Cancer Alone and Yes, No One is Expected to Fight Breast Cancer Alone.”

Ruth Amin, a public health specialist and project manager at the Yaounde-based Lifafa Research Foundation, said that sending people suspected of having breast cancer to hospitals would prevent many of the deaths caused because the women were abandoned or got to a hospital too late.

“We are calling on the men to support their spouses, to support their mothers, to support their sisters in raising awareness, in carrying them to the hospitals to be clinically examined by professionals,” she said.

“Women should speak up,” she said. “Women should go toward the health facilities to get examined because the earlier they are being diagnosed, the easier it would be for them to be treated.”

Amin spoke to VOA via a messaging app from Buea, a southern commercial city where humanitarian caravans were educating residents about breast cancer on Saturday.

Cameroon says it has equipped all hospitals with qualified medical staff members and equipment to diagnose breast cancer.

The World Health Organization estimates that Cameroon has about 20,000 new cancer cases, including breast cancers, each year, with 65% related deaths.

SOURCE VOA

Saturday 12, Oct 2024 {HMC} The Israeli military has fired on the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon twice in less than 48 hours, the UN says.

Israeli forces repeatedly fired at a guard tower at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday, injuring two members of the force, and again fired at a watchtower, injuring two more peacekeepers, on Friday.

It is almost unheard of for a UN member state to take aim at a UN peacekeeping force, so how significant are these incidents in the unfolding war in Lebanon?

What happened?

On Thursday morning, Israeli forces used a Merkava tank to fire at an observation tower belonging to UNIFIL in Naqoura, a small border-area town in southern Lebanon where UNIFIL has been headquartered since 1978.

Two Indonesian peacekeepers were directly hit, causing them to fall.

“The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital,” a UN statement issued on Thursday read.

The statement added that on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers had “deliberately fired at and disabled” the monitoring cameras at UNIFIL’s headquarters.

On Friday, UNIFIL released a second statement saying two more peacekeepers had been injured when two explosions occurred close to an observation tower. One was taken for treatment at a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tyre while the other was being treated in Naqoura.

Israel’s attacks were condemned by members of the international community, including Indonesia, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, Turkey, the European Union and Canada.

What is UNIFIL?

UNIFIL is a peacekeeping force in Lebanon originally set up by the UN Security Council in March 1978 after Israel first invaded Lebanon in what became known as the South Lebanon Conflict.

In 1978, Israel deployed its troops along the border with Lebanon after Palestine Liberation Organization members entered Israel from Lebanon by sea.

UNIFIL was established to oversee the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and to restore peace and security in the area.

After a 34-day war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, in which 1,100 Lebanese people were killed, UNIFIL’s mandate was expanded to monitor the cessation of hostilities and support Lebanese armed forces deployed throughout southern Lebanon.

As of September 2, 10,058 UNIFIL soldiers are deployed in Lebanon. They come from 50 countries.

The largest number of UNIFIL peacekeepers – 1,231 – come from Indonesia. Italy, India, Nepal and China also contribute a large number of soldiers to the peacekeeping force.

How common is it for UN peacekeepers to be harmed?

From 1948 to the end of August 2024, 4,398 UN peacekeepers on missions all over the world have been killed.

Of these fatalities, 1,629 were due to illness, 1,406 were caused by accidents, 1,130 by malicious acts and 233 were due to “other reasons”, according to data from the UN.

UNIFIL is the most dangerous of the peacekeeping missions, having suffered the most casualties. In its 46 years, 337 peacekeepers have been killed. It is followed by the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, which has suffered 311 fatalities.

The highest number of peacekeeper fatalities in one year took place in 1993 when 252 peacekeepers died during missions in Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia and other locations.

In 2010, the second highest number of fatalities took place when 173 peacekeepers were killed. They included three peacekeepers with the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur during confrontations with unknown attackers.

In the same year, 43 members of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) died on January 12 in an earthquake in Haiti. Ten other MINUSTAH personnel died in 2010 in “acts of violence”, the UN website reported.

In 2017, the UN said an attack on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was suspected to have been carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces armed group. That attack killed 14 Tanzanian peacekeepers and injured 44.

What is the legal position on targeting UN peacekeepers?

The deliberate targeting of UN missions amounts to a war crime, observers said.

“Under the laws of war, UN personnel involved in peacekeeping operations, including armed members, are civilians, and deliberate attacks against them and peacekeeping facilities are unlawful and amount to war crimes,” a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) explained.

HRW cited Article 8(2)(b)(iii) of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It lists the intentional targeting of humanitarian and peacekeeping missions as war crimes.

The UN statement that reported Thursday’s attack said not only was the deliberate attack a violation of international law but also a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. After Israel’s attack on Friday on the UNIFIL headquarters, the UN said: “This is a serious development, and UNIFIL reiterates that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701 (2006).”

Has Israel attacked UN peacekeepers before?

Military analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that the recent incident was not the first time UNIFIL had come under fire from Israel.

In 1987, an Israeli tank squad opened fire on a village where a UNIFIL command post was located, killing an Irish peacekeeper.

In 1996, Israel shelled UNIFIL’s Fijian battalion in southern Lebanon’s Qana. More than 120 Lebanese civilians were killed and about 500 injured. Four UN soldiers were also injured.

In late November 2023, Israeli forces fired at a UNIFIL patrol close to Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, but no peacekeepers were injured.

Magnier said the recent attacks were happening “because Israel needs to go through the UNIFIL position in Naqoura and start the invasion of Lebanon. This axis is vital for the Israeli army,” adding that a “huge” number of Israeli soldiers stand ready to enter Lebanon.

UNIFIL troops can be clearly identified because they wear blue helmets and their positions are well-known to the Israeli military.

How rare is it for a UN member to attack peacekeepers?

It is very rare for UN members to attack peacekeepers.

Most injuries and fatalities of peacekeepers have been due to crossfire involving armed groups or rebel groups, according to UN statements released after such incidents.

In 1994, 10 Belgian soldiers in the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda were killed by soldiers from UN member Rwanda, HRW reported.

SOURCE

Saturday 12, Oct 2024 {HMC} The drownings of two Navy SEALs during a maritime intercept off the coast of Somalia were preventable, caused by a lack of proper training and unclear guidance on effective flotation, a Navy investigation found.

During a night-time intercept of a ship carrying Iranian weapons to Yemen, Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher Chambers and Naval Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Ingram fell into heavy seas while trying to board.

Chambers, the Leading Petty Officer of the platoon, fell in from the side of the ship, while Ingram jumped into the water immediately to help.

Loaded with gear for the intercept mission, the two Navy SEALs went under in less than a minute. Chambers was seen “only intermittently” at the surface for 26 seconds; Ingram was seen “only intermittently” for 32 seconds.

“The entire tragic event elapsed in just forty-seven (47) seconds, and two [Naval Special Warfare] officers were lost to the sea,” the investigation found.

“Encumbered by the weight of each individual’s gear, neither their physical capability nor emergency supplemental flotation devices, if activated, were sufficient to keep them at the surface.”

The findings by Naval Special Warfare Command mark the conclusion of a monthslong investigation to determine how two members of one of the most elite and highly trained teams in the US military drowned during a mission for which they had prepared.

“This incident, marked by systemic issues, was preventable,” wrote Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, in his review of the investigation. Chambers and Ingram were posthumously promoted.

Naval Special Warfare SEAL Team Three deployed on board the USS Lewis B. Puller in December 2023. The team knew their primary mission would be maritime interceptions.

That month, the team had carried out two successful boardings of similar ships known as dhows during daylight, the first in calm seas and the second in heavier seas.

In early January 2024, the Navy began tracking a slow-moving dhow over a period of several days.

SEAL Team Three began planning an intercept of the vessel on or about January 12. Ultimately, the intercept was moved up one day after a review of the weather and an exercise of the operation.

At least one person involved in the operation, whose name is redacted in the investigation report, “voiced his concern about moving up the timing of the operation because it felt rushed.” In addition, “other crew members preferred to do it later to have more time to prepare.”

Even so, the investigation found that everyone in the group “offered an ‘ok’ and ‘good to go’” when asked about their ability to execute.

The SEALs set out in approximately 6-to-7-foot seas, near the maximum height of 8 feet for such a nighttime operation.

Conditions were difficult enough that the boarding craft had to approach three separate times. During the first two approaches, six SEALs were able to board.

But the third approach was more difficult, the investigation found.

No one was controlling the dhow anymore since the crew had left the wheelhouse, and the vessel was rolling heavily in the weather. Chambers, 37, fell in while trying to board, and Ingram, 27, jumped into the water after him.

The Navy carried out search and rescue efforts for 10 days following the incident, covering a search area of 48,600 square miles, but teams were unable to recover the bodies of the two SEALs.

“In accordance with established Navy policy, recovery and salvage was not pursued as the sea is recognized as a fit and final resting place for the remains of members of the Naval Service,” the investigation report stated.

The investigation concluded that the Naval Special Warfare Force Readiness Manual highlights the importance of buoyancy, but it fails to provide specific guidance on what an effective buoyancy test entails.

Before deploying, the SEALs conducted pre-deployment buoyancy tests in the waters off San Diego, investigators said, but they failed to complete buoyancy tests after they embarked.

The Navy highlights the need for “positive buoyancy” – the ability to stay afloat – for boarding team members.

Other materials focus on the need for “neutral buoyancy,” which is the ability to stay level in the water.

Ultimately, it was up to individual team members to determine what type of buoyancy was required for a mission and to configure themselves.

The lack of guidance led to “confusion and ineffective execution.”

The SEALs also lacked sufficient training with the Tactical Flotation Support System, an emergency flotation device, and it’s unclear if the two SEALs who drowned attempted to activate the system at all.

The investigation recommended a series of steps to address the “systemic issues” that led to the two drownings, including formalizing buoyancy requirements for missions, evaluating the need for a fail-safe flotation device and a review of lifesaving equipment on Navy boarding vessels.

SOURCE

By Oren Liebermann, CNN