- The situation in the strife-torn eastern Congo Kinshasa (DRC) has surpassed the upheavals in Sudan's Darfur region as "the biggest, most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today," according to the UN top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland.
Some 3 million Congolese were in acute need of assistance in a complex emergency where many parties were involved, "including, at one point, about 20 different armed actors," Mr Egeland told a press briefing as a two-day meeting of UN regional humanitarian relief officials began today in Geneva.
About 1 million people had died in the region in the past few years and there were many preventable deaths still - some 1,000 per day - despite the efforts of an active humanitarian community, he said, including 13 offices representing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which he heads.
In addition, sexual abuse in recent years had become probably worse there than anywhere else in the world, Mr Egeland said. Even the UN's own peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo, MONUC, faces massive charges of sexual abuse.
Mr Egeland's motives for handing this dubious distinction from Darfur to eastern Congo became clear during the press conference. Donors were "sitting on the fence" and withholding contributions for Darfur and eastern Congo. More focus was needed on the Congolese crisis, because, when "we need money and we need it now," he said.
Eastern Congo however was not the only humanitarian crisis that suffered from under-funding, however. No funds had come in for operations in the Central African Republic, Chechnya, Côte d'Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville and a regional operation in West Africa, while only 11 percent of funds needed for the Great Lakes region had been received, Mr Egeland said.
On the other hand, the humanitarian operations to assist the tsunami victims in Asia were well-funded and works there had already turned to the reconstruction phase. After the enormous response from people all over the world to help tsunami victims, humanitarian aid for Africa has now almost dried up. Ironically, humanitarian organisations still focus on the tsunami to raise funds in Europe and America.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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