Nigeria: Babies and children dying in military detention

Eleven children under the age of six, including four babies, are among 149 people who have died this year following their detention in horrendous conditions in the notorious Giwa barracks detention centre in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Amnesty International reveals today. 　　

Evidence gathered through interviews with former detainees and eyewitnesses, supported by video and photos, shows many detainees may have died from disease, hunger, dehydration, and gunshots wounds. The briefing, “If you see it, you will cry”: Life and death in Giwa barracks, also contains satellite imagery which corroborates witness testimonies.

“The discovery that babies and young children have died in appalling conditions in military detention is both harrowing and horrifying. We have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the high death rate of detainees in Giwa barracks but these findings show that, for both adults and children, it remains a place of death,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for Africa.

“There can be no excuses and no delay. The detention facilities in Giwa barracks must be immediately closed and all detainees released or transferred to civilian authorities. The government must urgently introduce systems to ensure the safety and well-being of children released from detention.”

Amnesty International believes that around 1,200 people are currently detained at Giwa barracks in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Many were arbitrarily rounded up during mass arrests, often with no evidence against them. Once inside the barracks, they are incarcerated without access to the outside world or trial. At least 120 of those detained are children.

Detention and deaths of children

At least 12 children have died in Giwa barracks since February. Children under five years old, including babies, have been held in three overcrowded women’s cells. In the last year there has been a ten-fold increase in the number of detainees in these cells rising from 25 in 2015 to 250 in early 2016. Unsanitary conditions mean that disease is rife. Amnesty International understands that there were around 20 babies and children under five in each of the three cells.

One witness told Amnesty International that they saw the bodies of eight dead children including a five-month-old, two one-year-olds, a two-year-old, a three-year-old, a four-year-old and two five-year-olds.

Two former detainees reported that two boys and a girl, aged between one and two years old, died in February 2016. One of the detainees, a 20-year-old woman, who had been held in a women’s cell for more than two months in 2016 told Amnesty International: “Three died while we were there. When the children died the reaction was too much sadness.”

The other witness, a 40-year-old woman detained in Giwa barracks for more than four months, told Amnesty International that soldiers ignored pleas for medical attention: “Measles started when hot season started. In the morning, two or three [were ill], by the evening five babies [were ill]. You will see the fever, the [baby’s] body is very hot and they will cry day and night. The eyes were red and the skin will have some rashes. Later some medical personnel came and confirmed that this is measles.”

After the deaths of these children she says that more regular medical checks began. She told Amnesty International: “Every two days the medical personnel will come to the yard and say ‘bring out the children who are sick’. The doctor will see them at the door and give them medicine through the door.”

Despite these measures, it appears that children have continued to die. Between 22 and 25 April a one-year-old boy, a five-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl died.

Boys over five, arrested alone or with their parents, were held in a single cell. As with all detainees at the barracks, they were denied access to their families and held incommunicado.　　

Two boys who were detained in this cell told Amnesty International that they got no family visits and they were not allowed out of the cell except to be counted by soldiers.

One of the boys described how families arrested together were separated on arrival at Giwa. “Their father was in a cell and mother inside the women’s cell and the girls stayed with the mothers.”

Describing conditions of detention he told Amnesty International: “It is hunger and thirst and the heat – these are the main problems.” The other boy detained in the same cell confirmed: “The food was not enough. There was very little food.”

Mass public releases of detainees, including young children and babies, earlier this year, have demonstrated that the detention of children in Giwa barracks is no secret.

On 12 February 2016, at a release ceremony for 275 Giwa detainees who had been wrongly held on “suspicion of being involved in terrorist or insurgent activities,” Major General Hassan Umaru, stated that among the 275 detainees released were “142 males, 49 females, 22 under aged, 50 children of cleared females.” According to military statements, media reports and witness statements, the military has released at least 162 children since July 2015.

Detention and deaths of adults

At least 136 men have died in detention in Giwa in 2016 including 28 men who appeared to have gunshot wounds.

Photographic and video evidence of emaciated corpses of 11 men and the body of child under two years old has been forensically analysed by an independent expert. A former detainee told Amnesty International: “In the morning they open the cell and take the urine and stool [buckets] outside. Next the coffin [corpses] will be taken outside.”

Bodies were brought to a mortuary in Maiduguri and from there Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA) personnel took them in rubbish trucks for burial in unmarked mass graves in the Gwange cemetery.　　

One witness told Amnesty International that since November 2015 a BOSEPA rubbish truck has visited the cemetery two or three times a week where staff bury the bodies separate from the public area of the cemetery.

Photos taken inside the cemetery show recently dug graves in the area visited by the BOSEPA workers. Satellite images taken on November 2015 and March 2016 show disturbed earth in this location.

Horrific detention conditions

According to witness testimony, conditions were worst in the men’s cells. One 38 year-old man who spent four months in Giwa in 2016 told Amnesty International that inmates received about half a litre of water per day. “There is a small plastic bowl for food. People use it for small children. It is just that for each meal.”

Another man, recently released after five months detention in the barracks, told Amnesty International: “There is no mat inside so you sleep on the floor. It is very congested. You can lie down, but only on your side and you cannot turn from one side to the other.”

Detainees have no washing facilities, their cells are rarely cleaned and disease is rife. Another former inmate told Amnesty International “No-one has a shirt so you can count the ribs of their body. There is no cleaning, so you live in disease. It is like a toilet. Me and my brother were sick inside the cell. Diarrhoea was common.”

Despite steps taken to improve conditions in Giwa barracks in 2014 and 2015 with detainees receiving food three times a day, as well as blankets, sleeping mats and increased access to sanitary facilities and medical assistance, recent mass arrests appear to have erased some of these gains and death rates are on the increase.　　

“Faced with an enemy as brutal as Boko Haram a key challenge for the Nigerian military is to defeat them whilst still fully respecting human rights and the rule of law. This is a challenge that they seem to be failing,” said Netsanet Belay.

“Deaths of detainees in north-east Nigeria are nothing new. But as overcrowding increases so does the number of emaciated corpses emerging from Giwa barracks, with babies and young children among the dead.

“Almost a year after our findings revealed that huge numbers had died in detention, it is now time for President Buhari to uphold his pledge to launch an urgent investigation into these deaths, release the children and shut down Giwa barracks detention centre without delay.”

For photos, satellite images and a copy of the report: visit https://amnesty.box.com/s/3g27l903xwlxnnh7x62z3srivgr6a0zo

See Amnesty International report on deaths of detainees from June 2015 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/06/nigeria-senior-members-of-military-must-be-investigated-for-war-crimes/

Background

At least 149 detainees have died in the detention facility in Giwa barracks, Maiduguri between January and 28 April 2016. The deadliest month was March with 65 deaths. April saw 39 deaths including eight babies and children.

Concerns about conditions in Giwa barracks and other military detention facilities have been raised since 2013. In June 2015, an Amnesty International report revealed that 7,000 detainees had died in military detention in Nigeria since 2011 as a result of starvation, thirst, disease, torture and a lack of medical attention. The report revealed that in 2013, more than 4,700 bodies were brought to a mortuary from Giwa barracks.

In February 2016, the Chief of Army Staff told Amnesty International that conditions in military detention were significantly better than documented in Amnesty’s report. He stated that Giwa barracks and other military detention facilities in the north-east are “holding centres” and suspects are rapidly transferred to a detention facility outside the north-east.

Overcrowding in Giwa barracks is a consequence of a system of arbitrary mass arrest and detention in Borno state. As the military recaptured towns under Boko Haram control during 2015, nearby villagers fled to these military-controlled areas. People, particularly men and teenage boys, were arrested as they arrived in towns such as Banki and Bama, or after spending time in internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps. Amnesty International has documented three cases of such mass arbitrary arrest in 2016 involving several hundred people. These arrests appear to be arbitrary, random profiling based on the individual sex and age rather than evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Amnesty International wrote to the Chief of Army Staff on 12 April 2016, requesting a response to its evidence and further information on deaths in detention. On 20 April 2016 the Chief of Army Staff replied, directing Amnesty International to the office of the Attorney General. There was no response to the evidence raised in the letter. Amnesty International wrote to the Attorney General and Chief of Defence Staff on 27 April 2016. No response has been received to date.

Released detainees are likely to face stigma as a result of their detention. The government must therefore urgently establish mechanisms to ensure the safety and well-being of former detainees, especially children.

Highlights

• Completeness for weekly reporting was 40% for the non-conflict affected states and 86% for the IDP sites.

• A suspect cholera case was reported in Tungnyang payam in Leer county.

• 98 new suspect measles cases reported from 7 counties in 6 states.

• 51 cases including 10 deaths of suspect VHF reported in Aweil North and Aweil West Counties with 24 December 2015 as the earliest date of onset.
Preliminary test results showed 5 PRNT positives for Onyong-nyong; 3 IgM positives for Chikungunya; and 1 IgM positive for Dengue.

• Complicated severe acute malnutrition was the most common cause of mortality in the week.

Special focus on measles

• 98 suspect measles cases reported from Juba (5); Yirol West (4),
Aweil North (17), Mayom (37), Rubkona (31), Abyei (8), Twic (1), (Table 4.1).

• Suspect cases continue to be reported in Mayom and Abyei where measles vaccination campaigns were completed. This highlights the need to review the current response and implement mop up campaigns in high-risk populations.

• Plans are underway to conduct measles vaccinations campaign in Malakal PoC, Aweil North, and Yirol West counties.

The new issue of FMR explores the ideas and practices that are being tried out in order to engage both development and humanitarian work in support of ‘transitions’ and ‘solutions’ for displaced people. What we need, says one author, is “full global recognition that the challenge of forced displacement is an integral part of the development agenda too”. FMR issue 52 includes 32 articles on ‘Thinking ahead: displacement, transition, solutions’, plus ten ‘general’ articles on other aspects of forced migration.

Washington, D.C., 10 May 2016 -- In response to an invitation by the United Sates Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Africa Abdoulaye Mar Dieye took part today in a briefing event on Instability in Africa in Washington D.C.

The two-part panel focused on ongoing threats in Africa’s so-called “Arc of Instability”, a region which encompasses the Sahel, the Lake Chad Region and the Horn of Africa.

Joining Abdoulaye Dieye were Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh Senior Associate and Regional Director for Central and West Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for Africa, Linda Etim USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa, and Justin Siberel U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counter-terrorism.

In his statement to the Foreign Relations Committee, Abdoulaye Mar mentioned the human toll brought about by violent extremism in Africa (which has reportedly claimed the lives of 35,000 on the continent since 2011 and caused 6 million people to flee their homes) and outlined UNDP’s targeted and development-based initiative to counter it.

“We support employment creation, and we work with local governments to strengthen public administration and the extension of state authority.”, said Mr. Dieye

Speaking to the root causes of violent extremism and its impact, Abdoulaye Dieye also stressed UNDP’s focus on “epicenter, spill-over, and at risk countries” and on “supporting regional institutions, governments, communities and at-risk individuals to address the drivers and related factors”.

To that end, he also mentioned UNDP Africa's recent 'mapping initiative' aimed at better understanding the mechanics of radicalization among the youth in affected countries.

Violent extremism has affected the economies of various African countries, as attested by a 45% decline in Tunisia’s tourism industry and the contraction of Chad’s G.D.P growth rate to 1% down from 5% in 2011.

“For Africa to meet its full development potential, preventing and responding to violent extremism is a key. This will require coordinated and collaborative partnerships between governments, developments partners and civil groups” Mr. Dieye said in closing.

To access the video of the hearing please visit: http://1.usa.gov/278NaSB

Contact Information

In Washington D.C.: Leanne Rios, Communications Specialist, leanne.rios@undp.org

In New York: Lamine Bal, Communications Specialist, lamine.bal@undp.org,

Contexte et justification

A. Contexte général de la sécurité alimentaire Campagne agricole 2015 / 2016

Le contexte général de la sécurité alimentaire et de la nutrition pour l’année 2015 / 2016 est marqué par une situation à la baisse du nombre de personnes en insécurité alimentaire sur l’ensemble du pays par rapport à l’année dernière et une stagnation du nombre d’enfants en situation de malnutrition. Ce contexte s’exprime dans le cadre d’un effort certain de l’Etat et de ses partenaires quant à l’assistance et l’appui aux populations les plus démunies et vulnérables du pays et particulièrement celles affectées par la crise sécuritaire et les chocs climatiques.

Sur le plan de la disponibilité des produits agricoles et d’élevage, la campagne agricole 2015/2016 a bénéficié sur l’ensemble du pays d’une pluviométrie normale voir excédentaire dans certaines zones, ce qui a permis, malgré un démarrage tardif de la saison et de faibles précipitations en début de campagne, un développement normal des cultures. Il est à noter que la production agricole de céréales de cette campagne 2015/2016 a été estimée supérieure à celle de l’année dernière 2014/2015 de 15,2% ainsi que supérieure à celles des 5 dernières de 27,3%.

Pour l’élevage, avec les niveaux de pluviométrie de l’année 2015, les conditions générales d’élevage sont de niveaux moyens à bons et se sont vues en amélioration suite au démarrage lent de la reconstitution du fourrage sur les aires de pâtures rendant la soudure pastorale plus longue. L’état d’abreuvement, ainsi que l’état des pâturages exondés ou la production de bourgou demeurent à des niveaux moyens à bons.

B. Zones à risques campagne agricole 2015/2016

Les travaux du Système d’Alerte Précoce (SAP) ont permis de mettre en évidence les zones à risques d’insécurité alimentaire jusqu’au niveau commune sur la base des difficultés économiques. Ainsi, 4 types de zones sont ressortis des analyses du SAP : 

• Zones à Difficultés Economiques Sévères (DES) : ce sont surtout les communes ayant connus en 2015 une chute de la production liée à l’insuffisance pluviométrique, l’insécurité ou encore des dégâts sur les cultures ;
  
• Zones à Difficultés Economiques Légères (DEL) : ce sont surtout des communes où l’insécurité a un impact négatif perturbant les indicateurs de la sécurité alimentaire ;
  - Zones à situation particulières : ce sont surtout les communes de la région de Kidal
  
• Zones à Situation Alimentaires Satisfaisantes (RAS) : ce sont les communes où les niveaux de l’insécurité alimentaire ne demandent pas une alerte spécifique.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

As at the end of March 2016, more than 2.4 million people had fled their homes in South Sudan since fighting broke out in December 2013, with over 1.69 million displaced inside South Sudan and 706,452 who had fled as refugees to neighbouring countries. There were nearly 188,184 people sheltering in Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites in United Nations bases, with Bentiu PoC site alone hosting nearly 116,500 people.

In March 2016, fighting in Western Bahr el-Ghazal continued to forced thousands to flee their homes in and around Wau. In Jonglei, inter-communal fighting in Pochalla North and South counties from 21 to 31 March left thousands of people estimated to be displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance. By the end of March, about 55,000 South Sudanese had arrived in Sudan since the end of January. They reportedly left Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap due to food insecurity - including as a result of the failure of the agricultural season and rising prices of cereals - and conflict. Under-funding and humanitarian access constraints remained major challenges. As at the end of March, just US$119 million had been secured for the 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan, representing 9 per cent of the total requirement of $1.29 billion for the year. In March, 60 humanitarian access incidents were reported, 72 per cent of which involved violence against humanitarian personnel or assets. The majority of the access incidents took place in Central Equatoria, Upper Nile and Jonglei.

Despite the many challenges, about 1.78 million people had been reached with humanitarian assistance by 129 humanitarian organisations the end of March 2016

Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) pediatrics advisor Dr. David Green recently arrived in Koutiala, southern Mali, to begin an extended visit to one of MSF’s largest pediatric programs at Koutiala Reference Hospital. Here, he describes a day working with the hospital’s Malian doctors, whose wealth of experience keeps the six-year-old project running.

I am working in the pediatric department of Koutiala reference hospital, which is one of MSF’s biggest pediatrics projects, caring for babies and children under five years old. There are 200 beds—but this number can jump by another 100 or so in the malaria season! I’m a senior pediatrician. I am 54. Back home that’s still young. In Mali it’s the average life expectancy. I’ll stick with the word "senior."

The day starts at 7:30 a.m. with a handover in the doctors’ office between day and night teams. We discuss the sickest children, and the deaths. There were two deaths overnight. Children often come to us very late in their illness, usually after having sought help from traditional healers first. After the handover, there’s a quick round of the sickest children.

A Division of Labor

At 8:30 a.m. (three times a week) I go to the labor ward with Dr. Yare, where we’re going over newborn resuscitation with the midwives. We’re building on a neonatal resuscitation training program (Helping Babies Breathe) that he began with previous MSF pediatricians. Maternity care, however, is not part of our mandate in Koutiala; MSF is running pediatric and neonatal activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Health inside the Koutiala Reference Hospital, while maternity and the midwives are managed by the Ministry.

Ideally, the labor ward and all newborn care should be seamlessly integrated but, as in a few of our projects, we must work in two different systems and physical spaces. In Koutiala we’re building bridges metaphorically—though there will be some physical building starting soon with MSF’s most recent construction project, which will hopefully bring the labor ward and neonatal unit closer together.

“The Young Doctors Know Their Stuff”

The rest of the morning is spent visiting the various units in the MSF-run service: triage, admissions, resuscitation room, intensive care, pediatric ward, malnutrition wards, neonatal unit, infants ward, burns unit, diarrhea ward, and isolation rooms. My job is to give advice. This is a mature project, running since 2009. The young doctors know their stuff. The exchange of ideas is in both directions! I’m impressed with the team here.

Today, a Monday, is the weekly afternoon academic meeting where we will discuss our clinical laboratory. We’re lucky – we benefit from the on-site MSF laboratory (blood bank, hematology, bacteriology, biochemistry). Among other things, they do blood cultures (looking for infection in the blood). There’s so much infection that the system is saturated. In the malarial season they will surely be swamped. In the meeting we discuss ways to prioritize who should get a blood culture.

After the meeting I do another tour, and follow up on individual patients I saw in the morning. Throughout the evening and night, doctors on shift at the hospital will call me with any questions they have; barring any emergencies that will require a nocturnal trip to the hospital, I’ll have a good night’s sleep before starting the process all over again tomorrow.

Learn More About MSF's Koutiala Pediatrics Project at childhealthmali.msf.org

In Koutiala, southern Mali, severe acute malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, respiratory tract diseases, and other so-called opportunistic infections pose severe threats to the survival of children under five years. To reduce morbidity and mortality in a region that has very few health professionals, MSF has provided preventive and curative care in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Mali since 2009. In 2015, more than 11,000 children were hospitalized, 70 percent of whom were admitted with malaria.

An intense dry season across the Sahel region leads to severe heat, causing water and power cuts for millions.

A strong drought has left many residents without drinking water in the West African nation of Burkina Faso.

Read the full article

NIMBO, NIGERIA— The people of Nimbo knew an attack was coming. A villager who said he was kidnapped by nomadic herdsmen had returned home with a letter threatening bloodshed.

Villagers mobilized young men and hired police to protect their farming community.

But at daybreak on that Monday in late April, the police left, and the attackers emerged, shooting and hacking 15 people to death.

“I never believed they can enter the town,” said Patrick Uze, who escaped the attack with machete wounds all over his body. “We were running and running and running.”

Villagers from Nimbo had been feuding with herdsmen in the area for years. They accuse the nomads of chasing them from their farmland, while ethnic Fulani herdsmen leaders say the villagers harass and attack them.

“It goes on and on. This is an avoidable incident,” said Bala Ardo, secretary to the Fulani community in Enugu state.

For a while, this conflict simmered with little outside attention. Then came the April violence.

It is unclear what sparked the dawn raid on the village. One survivor, Beatrice Uzi, told VOA the attackers accused Nimbo of harboring the killer of a herdsman, a death she claims the village had nothing to do with.

Series of raids

The raid was part of a series of brutal attacks and kidnappings this year that have stretched from Nigeria's southern Niger Delta to its northwest corner and have been blamed on herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group.

Politicians and newspapers have turned Nimbo into a cause celebre, railing against the nomadic herdsmen as a creeping national security threat.

“The onslaught of Fulani herdsmen has been tolerated for so long a time to the extent that one wonders whether killing to them has become a hobby of some sort,” columnist Sunday Onyemaechi Eze wrote on online news site Today.ng.

President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani who declared cattle among his possessions after taking office last year, put out a statement vowing to deal with “rampaging herdsmen.”

But experts say there’s no common cause to these recent attacks and that most farmers and herdsmen coexist peacefully. When relations do sour and turn violent, it’s usually due to local disputes that go unresolved, along with competition for increasingly scarce land and resources.

“There are growing ecological and demographic pressures in the rural areas of Nigeria. The political authorities are not very effective necessarily at actually managing these conflicts,” said Adam Higazi, a researcher who studies the issue at Modibbo Adama University in northeast Nigeria.

Nimbo residents say they went to the police and local government as the feud with the herdsmen raged, to no avail. An Enugu state police spokesman said the agency had no record of being contacted by the community, but was investigating the incident.

Nimbo residents remember a time when herdsmen would sell villagers unhealthy cows for slaughter at a discount, but those days are long gone.

“Nothing will make us live peacefully with them,” said Beatrice Uzi, who fled from the village during the attack.

About six years ago, herdsmen shot a well-liked hunter from the village after he caught a cow in one of his traps, Uzi said. Villagers say it was an accident. The incident set off a cycle of tit-for-tat violence.

“Sometimes, our people, they fight together. You understand? They kill our people and our people kill them,” said Kingsley Ezeugwu, a former government councilor. He bore deep gashes on his head and back from being attacked with a machete as he fled Nimbo.

Other trouble spots

The trouble is not unique to Nigeria. Nomadic cattle herding is common across west and central Africa. In Ghana, rural communities have complained in recent months of herdsmen destroying crops. In the Central African Republic, armed Fulani herders clashed with local militia stealing cattle as sectarian violence engulfed the country in 2015.

And in various parts of Nigeria, farmers and herdsmen have been at loggerheads for years for reasons ranging from banditry to religious rivalries, Higazi said.

The animosity has cost Nigeria. A report published last year by aid agency Mercy Corps said Nigeria could save $13.7 billion annually if clashes between farmers and herdsmen stopped in several states.

The bloodiest violence happened in 2009 and 2010 under the previous administration, said political commentator Chris Ngwodo. But critics have used the recent violence to tar Buhari’s administration, he said.

“This president is Fulani and this terrible coincidence of identity just puts him in a vulnerable position,” Ngwodo said.

When the central Nigerian village of Agatu was raided last February, with as many as 300 people reportedly killed, the president’s decision not to visit the community raised hackles.

“The fact that he did not react as hastily as would have been ideal did not help him either,” Ngwodo said.

Inaccurate reporting of the attacks may also be fueling outrage.

Major newspapers in Nigeria reported at least 40 people had been killed and multiple homes burned in Nimbo. But when VOA visited the village, only one home had been burned, and police said the death toll was 15.

A week after the attack, residents of the state capital, Enugu, marched in the streets, chanting “the Fulanis are killing us.” Some carried signs advocating a boycott of beef. Similar rallies were held by Nigeria’s diaspora in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Both groups aggrieved

While the violence in Nimbo was national news, it came as little surprise to the residents of the village, who say they have been forced off their land by herdsmen who kill or rape farmers they encounter.

But local herdsmen say they are also under attack. One Fulani leader told VOA that motorcycle-riding hoodlums were robbing and killing herdsmen in the bush. Another said 16 herdsman had been slain in the southeast this year.

In theory, herdsmen and farmers play complementary roles. Herds can graze on crop remnants, while cows can add manure to fallow fields.

But that symbiosis is breaking down.

“As development comes, these areas that used to be free, used to be fallow, you now have human activity coming,” Ardo said.

Cattle can trample crops, enraging farmers. The problem may get worse in coming years as climate change and desertification push more migrant herders farther south.

“Areas in the north that used to be grazing land have been overtaken by desert,” Ardo said.

Veterinary medicines that prevent diseases afflicting cattle in the south are now easier to get, allowing more herdsmen to make the trip, Higazi said.

Fulani leaders in the southeast told VOA they didn't know who attacked Nimbo but that they suspected it was herdsmen passing through from another state.

Some worry the publicity over the Nimbo incident could stigmatize Fulanis across Nigeria.

“I’m prone to attack every time I move out,” Ardo said. “Not because I am violent, not because of any attack, not because of anything. Simply because I am a Fulani man.” MeasureMeasure

FAITS SAILLANTS

• Le Plan de Réponse Humanitaire (HRP) 2016 (en cours de révision) cible 1,8 million de personnes dans un besoin urgent d’assistance, avec une enveloppe de US$ 566 millions.

• Plus de dix ans après la crise du Darfour et ses répercussions au Tchad, la situation humanitaire reste marquée par l’insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle ainsi que des défis de développement.

• Des besoins humanitaires persistent sur tous les sites de retournés tchadiens de la RCA, en matière d’abris, d’eau hygiène et assainissement, de santé, de nutrition, de protection et d’éducation.

Le plan de réponse humanitaire en cours de révision

Des besoins humanitaires en évolution dans un contexte dynamique

Dans son Plan de Réponse Humanitaire (HRP) 2016 validé en décembre dernier, la communauté humanitaire avait estimé que plus de 2,3 millions de personnes vulnérables auraient besoin d’assistance au Tchad au cours de l’année. Cependant le dynamisme de la situation, marquée par des crises multiples, pousse aujourd’hui la communauté humanitaire à réévaluer les besoins pour mettre à jour ce plan de réponse.

En effet, la situation alimentaire s’est dégradée, selon les données révisées du Cadre Harmonisé de mars 2016. Aujourd’hui 3,7 millions de personnes sont en insécurité alimentaire, contre 3,4 selon les estimations initiales du HRP. Parmi elles, plus d’un million sont en insécurité alimentaire sévère, soit une augmentation de 389 000 personnes. De plus, la malnutrition sévère s’est également aggravée, avec 17 000 enfants nouvellement en situation de malnutrition aigüe sévère pour un total de 193 000 enfants de 6 à 59 mois affectés.

On note aussi une évolution de la situation des mouvements de population. Le nombre de déplacés internes dans la région du Lac est en hausse, en raison de la persistance de la crise dans cette zone, tandis que le nombre de réfugiés est à la baisse, suite à un nouvel enregistrement biométrique réalisé fin 2015. Ainsi, le nombre de personnes en situation de déplacement a globalement diminué, passant de 653 547 à 565 589 personnes. La révision du HRP, qui devrait avoir lieu en mai, prendra en compte ces nouveaux chiffres en vue d’adapter l’assistance et les besoins financiers pour couvrir les besoins prioritaires.

Seulement 12 pour cent des financements requis ont été reçus

Fin 2015 lors de l’élaboration du HRP 2016, la communauté humanitaire en appui au Gouvernement tchadien identifié 1,8 million de personnes ayant un besoin urgent d’assistance ciblées pour une enveloppe totale de 566 millions de dollars américains. A ce jour, seulement 12 pour cent de ces fonds ont été mobilisés. Un effort supplémentaire de la part des bailleurs de fonds est essentiel pour éviter que la situation des personnes vulnérables ne se dégrade davantage.

Sauver des vies, renforcer la résilience

En dépit de cette révision, les trois objectifs stratégiques visés à travers le HRP 2016 vont rester les mêmes. Il s’agit de sauver des vies en fournissant une aide d’urgence aux personnes ciblées, de renforcer la résilience des communautés vulnérables en les aidant à intensifier et diversifier leurs moyens de subsistance et d’analyser les risques et les vulnérabilités pour mieux accompagner des changements structurels et les mesures préventives.

Pour rappel, le HRP est l’aboutissement d’un processus engagé fin 2015 avec la participation de l’ensemble des acteurs humanitaires, des bailleurs de fonds et des services étatiques impliqués dans les opérations humanitaires. Le plan initial comprenait au total 108 projets impliquant 145 partenaires humanitaires (Agences des Nations Unies, ONG nationales et internationales) dans divers secteurs.

Appeal Target: US$1,369,000

Balance Requested: US$495,650

Geneva, May 12, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

Chad ranks 185 out of 188 on the Human Development Index and 6th on the Fragile State Index. 55% of Chad’s population of approximately 13.2 million people live below the poverty line. OCHA’s Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016 indicates that four major crises directly affect 3.9 million people in Chad. These are: food security and nutrition, displacement, health emergencies and natural disasters.

Floods, droughts and pests negatively influence agricultural activities, exacerbating food insecurity. Displacement has caused food insecurity and threatened the livelihoods of over 3.4 million people – refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Chadian host communities. Chad currently hosts more than 505,370 refugees (377,480 Sudanese, 100,000 CAR and 27,890 from other countries). The crises in Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR) affect Eastern and Southern Chad. They have been identified by DG ECHO in 2014 as a forgotten crisis. Since then, with global displacement increasing, awareness of and response to these crises has diminished. In 2003, the Darfur rebellion in Sudan resulted in a heavy influx of refugees into Chad. More than 367,000 Sudanese refugees have since crossed into the eastern provinces in Chad.

KEY FIGURES

• 1,103 Voluntary returns to Mali facilitated since January 2016
• 11,715 Malian households in Mbera camp (as of 1 May 2016)
• 5, 434 Malian refugees with specific needs (as of 30 April 2016)
• 30 Litres Of potable water available per person per day in Mbera campPersons per latrine in Mbera camp

FUNDING 2016

• USD 19M Requested for the operation

PRIORITIES

• Maintain protection and assistance for all Malian refugees in Mbera camp.
• Strengthen support to refugees’ self-reliance.
• Maintain peaceful coexistence between the refugees and host communities.

HIGHLIGHTS

• On 22 April, following recent violent episodes in northern Mali, a group of eight families comprising about 30 people, mostly children, reached the border towns of Fassala and Medala.
  The families sought refuge in Mauritania after being displaced from the areas of Tenekou and Nyono.

• UNHCR in collaboration with the Mauritanian Agence Nationale du Registre de Population et Titres Sécurisés (ANRPTS) has completed a verification process which was started in 2014 to confirm nationality of people registered in UNHCR’s database. 8,318 individuals who were confirmed to be Mauritanian nationals have been de-activated from the database in April 2016.
  These Mauritanian families were assisted and will continue to have access to essential services in the camp,such as water and health services. 11,869 people were de-activated from UNHCR’s database after being confirmed Mauritanian nationals during the verification exercise.

• Between March and April 2016, UNHCR facilitated the voluntary return of 265 Malians to their country, some of whom have lived in Mbera camp since 2012.
  More than 1,100 individuals have been assisted to voluntarily return to Mali since January 2015.

• On 12 April, the United States Ambassadors in Mali and in Mauritania, H.Es Folmsbee and Andre respectively, visited Mbera camp. This mission enabled the Ambassadors to have direct exchange with forcibly displaced groups of women, youth and families to have a better understanding of their conditions in Mauritania. The visit took place after the U.S Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration gave a generous contribution of USD 8.5 million to UNHCR’s regional response to the Mali situation, which focuses on resilience and peaceful coexistence in Mali in neighboring countries.

Zoom sur l’in­ser­tion pro­fes­sion­nelle de cent jeunes maliens en si­tua­tion pré­caire à Tombouctou.

Avec l'ap­pui de Swiss­con­tact, les po­pu­la­tions du Nord bé­né­fi­cient de for­ma­tions pro­fes­sion­nelles ci­blées qui leur per­mettent de trou­ver un em­ploi ou d'amé­lio­rer leurs re­ve­nus. C'est le cas de 100 jeunes de Tom­bouc­tou, ac­com­pa­gnés pas à pas pour le dé­mar­rage d'ac­ti­vi­tés gé­né­ra­trices de re­ve­nus. Pre­mière étape pour la réus­site de ces jeunes : l'in­for­ma­tion et l'orien­ta­tion pro­fes­sion­nelle.

Cet appui s'inscrit dans le cadre du Programme d'appui à la formation professionnelle (PAFP) financé par la Coopération suisse et le Royaume du Danemark.

Pour en savoir plus consultez le reportage réalisé par "Les Echos"

Et le siteweb de Swisscontact

La Banque mondiale et la coopération suisse investissent plus de 700 millions de FCFA pour la réalisation de 18 km de caniveaux à Sikasso.

Cet appui contribuera à assainir et sécuriser la ville de Sikasso tout en améliorant le cadre de vie des populations.

Pour d'amples informations:

L'Essor en date du 09.05.2016

Les Echos en date du 09.05.2016

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The ongoing military operations against Boko Haram have degraded the capacity of the group and improved the security situation in some areas of the North-East, mainly in Borno where some mixed spontaneous returns by IDPs and Nigerian refugees have occurred. An estimated 2.4 million people are internally displaced (2.2 million according to the Displacement Tracking Matrix Round IX (DTM) released in May plus 0.2 million identified by the Joint UN assessment in newlyaccessible areas who are not reflected in the DTM).

While the humanitarian response for displaced people in camps and host communities needs to be strengthened in terms of protection, shelter and non-food items, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, nutrition and food assistance, government and humanitarian partners need to raise the visibility of the food crisis affecting about 14 million people in 8 states, including 7 million in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, 800,000 of whom are in urgent need of food assistance. In addition, more than 1.1 million people have been estimated malnourished. Eighty one per cent of them are children under five years old.