Nouveau Programme de coopération historique établit entre le gouvernement et la FAO

4 septembre 2015, Yaoundé - Le Cameroun et la FAO ont signé aujourd'hui, d'une part, un Accord de partenariat de 20 millions de dollars pour appuyer le développement du secteur agricole au Cameroun, et d'autre part un Accord relatif à l'établissement d'un Bureau de partenariat et de liaison de la FAO au Cameroun.

Ces nouveaux Accords ont été signé par le Ministre camerounais des Relations Extérieures, M. Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, le Ministre camerounais de l'Agriculture et du Développement rural, M. Essimi Menye et le Directeur général de la FAO, M. José Graziano da Silva, en visite officielle de trois jours.

Le nouveau Programme de partenariat entre la FAO et la République du Cameroun (PPFC), portera sur les activités prioritaires nationales énoncées dans le Cadre de programmation pays de la FAO pour le Cameroun. Le nouveau Bureau assurera la coordination d'ensemble de ce programme.

Le programme de partenariat prévoit également la possibilité d'un soutien aux activités de coopération Sud-Sud dans d'autres pays africains, qui sera financé par le Cameroun. « En tant que partenaires, le Gouvernement et la FAO se tiendront mutuellement informés de leurs politiques et programmes respectifs dans les domaines de la sécurité alimentaire, de la nutrition et du développement agricole et rural », a déclaré le Ministre Moukoko Mbonjo.

« Cet engagement financier historique marque l'engagement fort du Cameroun dans le développement de la sécurité alimentaire et du développement rural. Cette généreuse contribution du Cameroun est un signal fort qui nous rappelle que l'Afrique a le potentiel de lutter contre l'extrême pauvreté et la faim », a déclaré José Graziano da Silva, Directeur général de la FAO, lors de la cérémonie de signature à Yaoundé.

« Il est devenu évident que bien que nous pouvions éradiquer la faim en notre temps, nous ne réussirons que si nous travaillons ensemble, notamment quand les pays du Sud se prêtent mutuellement assistance », a-t-il ajouté.

« Le Cameroun s'est engagé à renforcer l'agriculture, secteur à la base du développement de l'Afrique, sur le plan national et au-delà », a déclaré le Ministre Menye.

« Nous sommes ravis de renforcer la coopération de longue date qui existe déjà avec la FAO. Cela permettra de renforcer notre travail en cours et d'ouvrir de nouvelles possibilités de travailler ensemble à la poursuite de nos objectifs communs ».

Le Cameroun est membre de la FAO depuis 1960 et l'Organisation a un bureau à Yaoundé depuis 1978.

Des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement aux Objectifs de développement durable

Le Cameroun a déjà atteint la cible de l'OMD consistant à réduire de moitié la prévalence de la sous-alimentation d'ici à 2015, et celle, plus rigoureuse, énoncée au Sommet mondial de l'alimentation en 1996: diviser par deux le nombre absolu de personnes souffrant de la faim d'ici à 2015.

En progressant, l'un des objectifs clés du nouveau programme établit aujourd'hui, consistera à renforcer l'interaction et les synergies entre les deux parties afin de permettre au Cameroun d'atteindre les Objectifs du millénaire pour le développement (OMD) et les objectifs de l'agenda pour l'après 2015.

La FAO a salué les efforts du gouvernement camerounais et lui a récemment attribué une distinction honorifique à Rome, en Italie, dans le cadre de sa lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition.

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

YAOUNDI—Cameroon said terrorism threats loom as millions of children return to school Monday after a three-month holiday.

The country has taken measures to make school campuses safe especially on its northern border with Nigeria, but many people prefer to leave the border zones with their children.

Sixteen-year-old Ahmidou Moussa is one of the millions of Cameroon students who go back to school Monday after the three-month holiday. But he says he can not return to classes in the Cameroonian town of Mora, on the border with Nigeria, because of suicide bombings.

Ahmidou says he was not really disturbed during the holiday period because his parents took him far away from the conflict-prone border zone to Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, which is safer.

Valentine Tameh, president of the Teachers Association of Cameroon says many teachers are also refusing to teach in localities along Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria.

"We are appealing to those who have been posted there that that is Cameroon," Tameh says. "You have to go there and do your work. But we are also and more loudly telling government that they have a moral duty to take care of (protect) those teachers there."

Police assurances

Ndzi Amos Tarla, of the communication unit of Cameroon's police, said he has been assuring students, teachers and parents that security has been increased on school campuses in border localities.

Tarla says if the population cooperates with authorities, the terrorists will find it difficult to operate.

"The very, very little ones must be accompanied to school especially those who are going to school for the first time," says Tarla, adding the children are being told not to take items or assistance from people they do not know.

"That is a moment, too, that kidnappers or people with intentions will take children ... like that and at the end they will be somewhere else. They must be taught to avoid bad company, they must be taught to make new friends with a lot of caution. Most of all if they notice anything, they should report immediately to the security officials they see," he adds.

Last year, Cameroon closed 70 schools on its northern border with Nigeria's Borno state.

More than a 100,000 students were relocated to new schools to keep them away from the insurgents that vowed to attack Cameroon for taking part in efforts to eradicate the terrorist group.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Key developments

• Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential elections (first democratic elections with an opposition candidate succeeding) in March 2015 and was inaugurated as President in May 2015.

• Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS (the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq). This is an important development, as it will most likely further increase international support for regional counter-insurgency operations.

• By March 2015, Nigeria and its neighbouring allies (Chad, Cameroon, Niger) recaptured most of former Boko Haram territory. Simultaneously, the Islamist jihadists resorted to increasing attacks on civilian places (mosques, churches, markets, villages). Killings and abductions take place on an almost daily basis.

• A regional country coalition, called the Multinational Joint Task Force, was agreed upon in early 2015 and will comprise 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin. The headquarters will be located in N’Djamena, Chad. Operations should have started at the end of July but have not yet begun due to both a lack of political will from member states and gaps in funding.

• Boko Haram, in the past months, has largely extended its territory of attacks into further parts of Nigeria and neighbouring Niger (in particular Diffa region), Cameroon (Far North Region) and had (the capital N’Djamena, and Lake Chad area). The upsurge in attacks in Cameroon, Niger and Chad are both a cause and a consequence of the plans to establish the regional country coalition.

• Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian army of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in their fight against Boko Haram.

By Andrea Pettrachin

CEUTA, Sep 4 2015 (IPS) - In the middle of the mountains behind the border fence of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, and eight kilometres from the nearest Moroccan village of Fnideq, an uncertain number of migrants live in the woods. No one knows exactly how many they are but charity workers in Melilla, Spain’s other enclave in Morocco, say they could be in their thousands.

Ceuta is one of the main (and few) ‘doors’ leading from northern Africa to the territory of the European Union, and is a ’door’ that has been closed since the end of the 1990s, when the Spanish authorities started to build a tripe six-metre fence topped with barbed wire that surrounds the whole enclave, as in Melilla.

In the past, those waiting in the mountains for their turn to try to reach Spain had been able to build something resembling a normal life. They put up tents and at least were able to sleep relatively peacefully at night.

Today, the migrants are forced to remain mostly hidden in small groups among the trees or in small caverns, and they know that all attempts to pass the Spanish border are almost certain to fail and end up with arrest by the Moroccan authorities

That all ended after 2012, when the Moroccan police started to burn down the camps and periodically sweep the mountainside, arresting any migrants they found, charged with having illegally entered the country.

These actions were the result of agreements between the Moroccan and Spanish governments, after Spain had asked Morocco to control migration flows.

The most tragic raid so far by the Moroccan police took place last year on Gurugu Mountain which looks down on Melilla. Five migrants were killed, 40 wounded and 400 removed to a desert area on the border with Algeria. According to the migrants, the wounded were not cured and were left to their own destiny.

Today, the migrants are forced to remain mostly hidden in small groups among the trees or in small caverns, and they know that all attempts to pass the Spanish border are almost certain to fail and end up with arrest by the Moroccan authorities.

They live, in their words, “like animals” and when speaking with outsiders are clearly ashamed by their condition, apologising for being dirty and badly-dressed.

The first thing many of them tell you in French is that they are students and that before having to leave their countries they were studying mathematics, economics or engineering at university.

Many of them are from Guinea, one of the countries most seriously affected by the Ebola epidemic, others come from Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, all countries characterised by political turmoil of various types.

All of them have been forced to live in these woods for months or even years, waiting for their chance to pass the border fence.

The statistics show that some of them will certainly die in their attempts to reach Spain – either on the heavily fortified fences which encircle the enclaves or out at sea in a small boat or trying to swim to a Spanish beach.

Some of them will finally make it to Spain, perhaps after five or six failed attempts. In that case they will have overcome the first hurdle, escaping the “push-back operations” by the Spanish Guardia Civil, but they will still face the possibility of forced repatriation, particularly if they come from countries with which Spain has a repatriation agreement.

Many of them, however, will finally give up and decide to remain somewhere in Morocco, destined to a life of continuous uncertainty due to their irregular position in the country. You can meet them and listen to their stories in the main Moroccan cities, especially in the north. In most cases, they had escaped death in their attempts to reach Spain and do not want to risk their lives any longer.

Meanwhile a report on ‘Refugee Persons in Spain and Europe” published at the end of May by the non-governmental Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR), denounces how sub-Saharan migrants are dissuaded from seeking asylum in Spain, even if coming from countries in conflict such as Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo or Somalia, once they realise that they are likely to be forced to remain for months in a Centre for Temporary Residence of Immigrants (CETI) in Ceuta or Melilla.

In Melilla, for example, those who apply for asylum cannot leave the enclave until a decision has been taken on their application. Unlike Syrian refugees whose application takes no more than two months, CEAR said the average time to reach a decision for sub-Saharan Africans is one and a half years.

The CEAR report is only one of a long list of recent criticisms of the Spanish government’s migration policies from numerous NGOs and international organisations.

The main target of these criticisms has been the Security Law (Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana) passed this year by the Spanish Parliament with only the votes of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party. The aim was to give legal cover to the so called devoluciones en caliente, the “push-back operations” against migrants carried out by the Spanish frontier authorities in Ceuta and Melilla in violation of international and European law.

On the Spanish mainland, said the CEAR report, migrant’s right of asylum is seriously undermined by the bureaucratic lengths of application procedures and the political choices of the Spanish authorities.

Calls from CEAR and other NGOs to end “push-back operations” seem very unlikely to be taken into consideration soon by the Spanish government and Parliament, in view of the general elections later this year.

Edited by Phil Harris

Mauritania - IOM has launched a project to boost community empowerment and self-reliance in communities hosting Malian refugees in southeast Mauritania.

The five-month EUR 284,000 project, which is funded by the Italian government, aims to empower host communities living around the M'bera refugee camp, in the south east of the country, and improve their resilience, reducing the risk of conflicts and emigration in rural areas.

The project is a preparatory action of the soon-to-be launched Regional Development Protection Programme (RDPP) for North Africa, led by Italy and a 14-EU Member State Consortium, and funded by the European Commission.

The region of southeast Mauritania bordering Mali suffers from severe climate pressure, making natural resources scarcer every year and threatening the livelihood of the local population.

The 2012 conflict in northern Mali led to the creation of M’bera, a refugee camp on the Mauritania-Mali border, providing refuge to Malians fleeing the conflict. As of July 1st 2015, the camp was hosting some 50,000 refugees, according to UNHCR.

The camp has put considerable pressure on the already fragile environment. There is intense competition for firewood, water and pasture between the host communities and the refugees. It has also considerably increased the cost of basic items, as demand outstrips supply.

The "deactivation" of about 10,000 Mauritanian refugees, who can no longer fully benefit from assistance offered in the camp, and who should return to their home villages, has put additional pressure on the limited resources available, resulting in a rise of tensions between the three groups.

“The project aims to support host communities in the development of greater autonomy, thanks to the improvement of their agriculture and livestock capacity, as well as the development of an appropriate response to the needs created by the existence of a large population of refugees in competition for natural resources,” explained IOM project manager Momme Helly Ducros. “This is necessary to promote the creation of a peaceful and constructive dialogue between host communities, ‘deactivated’ Mauritanians and Malian refugees,” he added.

For further details, please contact IOM Mauritania. Momme Helly Ducros, Tel: +222 45244081, Email: mducros@iom.int or Flavia Giordani, Tel: +22245244081, Email: fgiordani@iom.int

 Les résultats indiquent que 8% des ménages interviewés ont une consommation alimentaire pauvre.

 Dans l’ensemble, la situation alimentaire est globalement satisfaisante, vu que plus de 80% des ménages ont une consommation alimentaire limite ou acceptable.

 A Diffa, par contre, le niveau élevé de l’indice des stratégies de survie traduit une situation alimentaire sous pression dans une région confrontée à une crise humanitaire complexe.

 Avec la régularité de l’assistance alimentaire, on devrait logiquement s’attendre à une baisse progressive de cet indice au cours des prochains mois.

 Dans les situations d’urgence complexe, où l’insécurité ne permet pas d’accéder à certaines zones, le mVAM apparaît comme une alternative pour combler le besoin en informations.

Snapshot 2–8 September 2015

Yemen: The health system in Taizz governorate is close to collapse. All public hospitals have closed, and the remaining health facilities are overwhelmed by severely injured people as well as a dengue outbreak. Access remains severely restricted across the country. Hudaydah port, the main entry point for humanitarian supplies in north and central Yemen, remains closed, and road transport from Aden port to northern governorates remains limited.

South Sudan: The number of malaria cases has dramatically increased this year: 989,400 cases, including 445 deaths, were recorded from January to August, compared to nearly 744,200 cases and 303 deaths during the same period in 2014. In Bentiu Protection of Civilians site, case numbers have increased from 113 per 10,000 people in May to 820 per 10,000.

Ukraine: According to WFP, humanitarian supplies have not been able to reach non-government-controlled areas since 21 July. In the southwestern region Zakarpatskaya, two cases of polio have been recorded. These are the first cases recorded in Europe since 2010 and partly attributable to poor vaccination coverage.

Updated: 08/09/2015. Next update 15/09/2015.

Global Emergency Overview Web Interface

Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Tuesday 9/8/2015 - 14:43 GMT

A dense sandstorm engulfing parts of the Middle East left at least eight people dead and hundreds suffering from respiratory problems on Tuesday, as officials warned residents to stay indoors.

Large parts of Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Cyprus were shrouded in a thick cloud of dust from the storm that began sweeping into the region on Monday.

Refugees from Syria now living in basic conditions in Lebanon were badly affected.

In Syria itself, the storm meant government warplanes and helicopters carried out fewer strikes, but at least six people died across the country from respiratory failure, a monitor said.

"There were four (killed) in Deir Ezzor, including a child and an elderly woman, as well as another child in Hama province and a person in Daraa," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Lebanon's health ministry said two women had died at hospitals in the eastern Bekaa Valley region because of the storm, without specifying their nationality.

"The number of cases of choking and shortness of breath caused by the sandstorm has risen to 750," the ministry said.

Police distributed face masks on city streets as authorities warned people suffering from health problems, the elderly, and pregnant women to stay indoors.

The storm was felt particularly in Lebanon's dozens of informal camps where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees live with limited shelter.

In the Bekaa, a woman wrapped her headscarf over her mouth as she walked by a makeshift tent in one camp.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab ordered private schools across the country to close on Wednesday, calling on "school officials to respect this decision and to protect students from any danger", a ministry statement said.

Mouin Hamzeh, secretary general of Lebanon's governmental National Council for Scientific Research, said satellite images "clearly show that the sandstorm came from northern Iraq in the direction of central and northern Lebanon, north and east Syria, and southern Turkey".

"It usually happens twice or even three times a year in Lebanon but during spring, March and April, and the unusual thing today is the density of the storm," he told AFP.

• Storm impedes Syria strikes -

In the Syrian city of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor, several hospitals were no longer receiving patients suffering respiratory problems after running out of oxygen tanks, the Observatory said.

Syria's health minister urged citizens to "avoid prolonged exposure to the outdoors", and said hundreds of people had been treated for asthma and other respiratory problems.

The dust cut visibility for regime aircraft, which carried out relatively few strikes during the storm, the Observatory said.

"The sandstorm has paralysed regime airplanes, there were only a few strikes in Damascus province," said Abdel Rahman.

A thick haze hung over Jerusalem and much of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, with officials warning the vulnerable to stay indoors.

The view from the Mount of Olives -- normally a sweeping panorama of Jerusalem's Old City and the Al-Aqsa mosque compound with its golden Dome of the Rock -- was completely obscured by the dust.

The thick cloud also enveloped parts of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where residents were told to limit their time outdoors.

Health officials warned that the concentration of dust particles in the air was many times above normal levels.

Several flights were diverted from the coastal airport of Larnaca as visibility dropped to 500 metres (yards), although flights began arriving again as scheduled later on Tuesday.

Cyprus was also suffering from a heatwave, with inland temperatures hitting 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit).

Its interior ministry said dozens of Syrian refugees who had been rescued from a fishing boat off the coast on Sunday had been moved from a makeshift camp to a better-equipped facility because of the extreme weather.

The effects of the storm also reached Cairo, where the skyline was obscured by a thick haze.

Wahid Saudi, a top official at Egypt's weather authority, said the dust had blown in from the eastern Mediterranean region and was expected to clear after several hours.

burs-sah/pg/srm

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Introduction

1. The present report, covering the period from August 2013 to July 2015, is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 68/72, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of that resolution, including on relevant United Nations policies and activities.

2. The report describes the activities and achievements of the 12 United Nations entities comprising the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action, which is chaired by the United Nations Mine Action Service. United Nations mine action entities have shown themselves to be agile and adaptable, and they remain an essential element in humanitarian mine action response and development initiatives.

3. Globally, as many as 7.9 million people live in close proximity to areas contaminated with mines and/or explosive remnants of war, and an additional 4.7 million people are at risk as a result of seasonal migration through corridors affected by mines and/or explosive remnants of war. It is encouraging to note that the number of victims of anti-personnel landmines has declined by about two thirds (67 per cent) from a peak in 2005. However, there has been no decline in the number of casualties related to explosive remnants of war, and the percentage of civilian victims who are children continues to rise. The World Bank reports that countries affected by mines are predominantly middle and low income, and that many are currently experiencing violent conflict. The United Nations has a mine action presence in 85 per cent of countries and territories classified as “heavily” or “very heavily” contaminated.

Beyrouth, Liban | AFP | mardi 08/09/2015 - 15:13 GMT

Au moins huit personnes sont mortes et des centaines d'autres hospitalisées pour problèmes respiratoires au Proche-Orient à cause d'une tempête de sable qui affecte notamment des camps de réfugiés syriens.

Les nuages de sable ont obscurci mardi, pour le deuxième jour consécutif, le ciel d'une grande partie du Liban, de la Syrie, d'Israël, des territoires palestiniens et de Chypre.

Jusqu'à présent, la Syrie semble le pays le plus affecté avec six morts, selon l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'Homme (OSDH).

"Quatre sont décédées à Deir Ezzor (est), dont un enfant et une femme âgée, un enfant dans la province de Hama et une autre personne à Deraa(sud)", a précisé le directeur de l'ONG basée en Angleterre Rami Abdel Rahmane.

Au Liban, deux femmes sont décédées dans les hôpitaux de Baalbeck et de Temnine dans la région de la Békaa (est). "L'une a péri hier, l'autre aujourd'hui", a précisé à l'AFP le ministre de la Santé Waël Bou Faour.

"Le nombre de cas de suffocation et de troubles respiratoires en raison de la tempête de sable s'est élevé à 750", a ajouté le ministère.

Annonçant l'"état d'alerte", les autorités ont demandé aux "personnes souffrant d’asthme, d’allergies et de maladies cardiovasculaires et pulmonaires chroniques, ainsi qu’aux personnes âgées, aux enfants et aux femmes enceintes de rester chez eux" ou de porter des masques s'ils devaient sortir. La police a distribué des masques dans les rues.

Cette tempête devrait baisser en intensité à partir de mercredi soir, selon les services météo.

Venue du nord de l'Irak, elle est jugée exceptionnelle par sa "densité" pour cette période de l'année. "Habituellement, le Khamsin (vent de sable brûlant qui souffle dans la région) frappe deux ou trois fois par an au Liban, mais c'est durant le printemps, en mars et en avril", explique Mouïn Hamzé, le secrétaire général du Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) libanais.

La tempête de sable affecte en particulier les réfugiés syriens vivant dans des camps de misère, notamment dans la région de la Békaa. Des photographes de l’AFP y ont vu des femmes se couvrir le visage avec leur voile pour se protéger de la poussière.

• Centaines de personnes soignées -

Dans la Syrie voisine, la tempête a eu un impact sur la guerre puisqu'elle "a paralysé les avions du régime", qui n'ont effectué que très peu de frappes aériennes, selon l'OSDH.

A Mayadine, ville de l'est contrôlée par le groupe extrémiste Etat islamique (EI), les hôpitaux ne pouvaient plus recevoir de patients en raison d'un manque de bouteilles d'oxygène, d'après l'OSDH.

La tempête a également touché Israël et les territoires palestiniens, engendrant une hausse de la pollution de l'air à Jérusalem, dans la région du Néguev (sud) et dans d'autres localités.

Selon le site d'informations israélien Ynet, des vols intérieurs ont été perturbés et certains annulés entre Tel-Aviv et Eilat, dans le sud.

Les hôpitaux de Cisjordanie ont traité des dizaines de patients victimes de difficultés respiratoires, a indiqué le ministère palestinien de la Santé.

L'île méditerranéenne de Chypre, proche des côtes syriennes, était également recouverte d'un nuage de poussière, accompagné par des températures autour de 40° celsius.

Les écoles ont été sommées de garder les enfants dans les classes et les hôpitaux étaient en état d'alerte.

Au total, 24 avions ont été affectés par la tempête de sable. Dans la matinée, ceux qui devaient atterrir ou décoller à l'aéroport international de Larnaca (sud) ont été redirigés vers celui de Paphos, plus à l'ouest, selon des responsables aéroportuaires.

Compte tenu de ces conditions météorologiques exceptionnelles, le gouvernement a ordonné le transfert des réfugiés syriens secourus dimanche au large de l'île d'un campement de tentes à un camp en dur.

burs/vl-nbz/jri

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Environ un millier de soldats togolais a quitté Lomé pour le Mali dans le cadre d’une phase de relève des effectifs de la Minusma (Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation au Mali).

En visite à Lomé mi-août, le commandant de cette force onusienne, Michael Anker Lollesgaard, avait vanté la qualité le professionnalisme des Casques bleus togolais.

Le contingent togolais est déployé à Sévaré, Douentza, Diabaly, Gossi et Kidal.

FAITS SAILLANTS

• Les négociations du périmètre avec les autorités locales sont définitivement bouclées pour les activités agricoles et maraichères des réfugiés.

• La mission du Coordonnateur Humanitaire pour la Région du Sahel dans la région du Lac a eu lieu au Lac du 24 au 26 août.

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Tuesday 9/8/2015 - 22:33 GMT

Nigeria's military said on Tuesday it had made a number of arrests after intercepting a vehicle allegedly carrying fuel and drugs for Boko Haram Islamists waging a six-year-old insurgency in the northeast.

"Following...directives to troops in the northeast for a painstaking search of motorists and cargoes, troops of the 3 Division Nigerian army have intercepted and arrested some kingpins and foot soldiers of suppliers of Boko Haram terrorists with hard drugs and other stimulants," the army said in a statement.

It said the seizure was made on Tuesday between the towns of Depchi and Geidam in Yobe state, a hotbed of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Besides drugs the suspects were also transporting fuel, the statement said, without saying how many people had been arrested.

The army claimed the alleged drugs find as proof the insurgents bloody quest to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria was a sham.

The use of drugs is prohibited in Islam, except for medicinal purposes.

Boko Haram's insurgency has killed an estimated 15,000 people and displaced some 2.1 million others since 2009.

joa/cb

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

DISPLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• 2,150,451 individuals (300,992 households) were identified in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe,

• Nasarawa states and Abuja through DTM.

• Majority of the IDPs are identified in Borno (1,650,799; 77%) followed by Yobe (195,918; 9%) and Adamawa (117,729; 5%).

• A total of 262,324 individuals (37,073 households) have returned to Adamawa state.

Goal Reduce the risk of instability and increase resilience to violent extremism in the Sahel.

Life of Program 11/2011-10/2016

Total USAID Funding USD 61.7 million

Geographic Focus Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger

Implementing Partner International Relief and Development (IRD)

The Peace through Development II project (PDEV II) assists communities in Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso to reduce their risk of instability and increase their resilience to violent extremism. PDEV II applies a holistic, community-led approach to address socioeconomic, political and cultural drivers of violent extremism. PDEV II focuses particularly on addressing the concerns of young men and women, who are at greatest risk of being recruited by violent extremist organizations.

Program Objectives• Empower youth through activities and trainings focused on civic education, vocational and entrepreneurial skills and leadership.• Foster moderate voices and attitudes through radio, social media, civic education and conflict resolution events.• Strengthen civil society through capacity building activities focused on advocacy skills, citizen-led accountability initiatives and issue-based campaigns integrated with radio and social media.• Reduce corruption by improving the capacity of local government institutions and increase citizen participation in local government.

2014 Program Highlights• Reached over 2.5 million people from groups at-risk of violent extremism through media activities promoting peaceful conflict resolution and moderate voices.• Generated 614 hours of original radio content aimed at countering extremist narratives that was broadcast and rebroadcast a total of 3,697 hours across 58 partner stations.• Trained over 2,200 community and religious leaders on conflict mitigation and resolution skills. • Supported youth leaders to organize 222 community activities, 308 participatory theater performances, and 139 mobile cinema screenings in at-risk communities.• Reached over 149,000 people through civic education, moderate voice promotion and youth empowerment-themed events.• Trained over 800 government and community leaders on administrative and fiscal management skills to support decentralization efforts.

Goal Reduce the risk of election violence in West Africa.

Life of Program 2/2015-2/2020

Total USAID Funding $2.5 million

Geographic Focus West Africa (Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Sierra Leone)

Implementing Partner West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)

West African countries have experienced frequent incidents of violent conflict. Although the causes of state fragility and political instability in the region are deeply rooted and structural in nature, there have been occasions when large scale violence and instability have been sparked by elections or election-related processes. Despite best intentions embodied in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, and the Conflict Prevention Framework, violence is still commonplace during elections in the region. Conflict early warning and response are therefore seen as critical conflict mitigation priorities by West African governments. Strengthening early warning and response around key elections in the region will help to increase stability and reduce the potential for future conflicts.

Program Description Mitigating Election Violence through National Early Warning Systems is a five-year, $2.5 million project implemented by the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP). The aim of the project is to mitigate election violence in target countries in West Africa. Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Sierra Leone have been selected to date. WANEP will assist community organizations to identify potential election violence risks by developing and monitoring a set of customized indicators and analyzing the resulting data. If monitoring in a given area reveals a heightened risk of violence at any point in the election cycle, WANEP will develop recommendations for peace-building activities to prevent it, and will channel these recommendations to targeted national and regional stakeholders for early action before the situation escalates.

Program Objectives• Enable National Early Warning Systems in targeted countries to recommend responses to election violence triggers.• Enhance recommendations and intervention strategies in targeted countries.• Standardize and improve NEWS data collection and reporting.

Program Highlights• With well-attended public launches in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire in May, WANEP is well underway in preparing for the 2015 presidential elections in both countries.

Ce jeudi 3 septembre 2015, les Forces Maliennes de Défense et de Sécurité ont détruit deux restes d’explosifs de guerre (REG) à Sévaré, dans la région de Mopti.

Le premier engin, retrouvé sur le site de l’attaque du 7 Aout dernier à l’hôtel Byblos, a été détruit en début d’après-midi au cimetière de Sévaré, en face du Camp de la Garde Nationale de Mopti. Le deuxième engin, une bombe non-explosée retrouvée au Sud de l’aéroport de Sévaré, a été détruit aux environs de 16 heures.

A la demande des Forces Maliennes, le service de lutte anti-mines des Nations Unies (UNMAS) a apporté un appui technique durant ces deux opérations afin de s’assurer de la bonne conduite du processus de destruction. Par ailleurs une grande campagne de communication a été lancée par MIKADO FM pour avertir les populations, demandant à tout le monde de rester calme et à ne pas céder à la panique.

Pour rappel, les restes d’explosifs de guerre représentent un grand danger pour les populations civiles au Mali et ont déjà tués 28 personnes et blesses 131 autres depuis 2012. Plus de 60% des victimes étaient des enfants. Afin de protéger les populations civiles, des activités de sensibilisation aux risques et d’assistance aux victimes sont menées par UNMAS dans les zones contaminées. De plus, en vertu de la résolution 2227 du conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies, la MINUSMA dispose d’un mandat pour aider « les autorités maliennes à procéder au retrait et à la destruction des mines et autres engins explosifs et à gérer les armes et munitions».