GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – France’s new government under President Francois Hollande had barely announced it intended to reduce its role in Africa, when it sent warplanes to its former colony Friday 11 January to support the government and stop the advance of Islamists who have building strength since April 2012. Britain is sending air reinforcements to [...]
Unicef says number of genital cutting cases rising in Switzerland
November 28, 2012 by
Sudan new this year, some 1,500 cases BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of girls or women who live in Switzerland and who have been or are at risk of genital cutting has risen from 6,700 eight years ago to 10, 700 in 2011, according to new figures released Wednesday 28 November by Unesco’s Swiss office. [...]
Somali woman wins UN refugee award
September 19, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 2012 Nansen Refugee Award has been awarded to Hawa Aden Mohamed, the founder and director of the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD) in Puntland, northeastern Somalia. “The award is given to Hawa Aden Mohamed in recognition of her exceptional, tireless and inspiring humanitarian work for Somalia’s refugee and [...]
Somalia MPs to elect new president amid bribery concerns
September 10, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Somali members of parliament are expected Monday 10 September to vote for a new president in the first elections of its kind in decades, amid concerns of fraud and bribery. Media reports say that diplomatic sources overseeing the election process believe vote buying has been underway in recent days, with money coming [...]
Somali refugees top 1 million, but flow is slowing
July 18, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – UNHCR, the UN refugee organization in Geneva, says that the number of Somali refugees fleeing to other countries in the Horn of Africa, in particular to Kenya and Ethiopia, has now gone over one million. But “data for the main arrival countries of Kenya and Ethiopia also shows lower but steady numbers [...]
Finland to get rid of landmine stockpiles by 2016
July 2, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Finland hopes to increase mine action funding to 6 million euro annually by 2014 as it complies with its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or Ottawa Convention, that entered into force for Finland Sunday 1 July, despite overall budget cuts. The terms of the convention call for Finland to destroy its [...]
Somali kidnappers demand ransom for French woman’s remains
October 21, 2011 by
France announced that 66-year-old Marie Dedieu, who was kidnapped on October 1 from her beach house in Kenya, and taken to Somalia, has died in the hands of her captors, most probably because they had refused to provide her medication. The kidnappers seem to have tried to sell the remains. “It could not be more [...]
French woman, kidnapped in Kenya, dies in Somalia
October 19, 2011 by
PARIS, FRANCE – The French foreign ministry has announced the death of Marie Dedieu, 66, who was kidnapped the night of 30 September from her home on the small island of Manda, then taken to Somalia. Dedieu, who used a wheelchair, was taking medication to treat a cardiac problem and cancer; the wheelchair and the [...]
Two MSF workers kidnapped at Kenya’s Dabaab refugee camp, driver shot
October 13, 2011 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two women, Medecin Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff, were kidnapped at 13:20 Thursday 13 October from the Ifo extension area of the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. Their driver is undergoing urgent medical treatment after being shot. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp, with 463,739 Somali refugees, more than 190,000 of whom [...]
Red Cross starts to feed Somalis, with Al-Shabaab’s agreement
October 5, 2011 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The ICRC (International Red Cross) said Wednesday 5 October that it has started to distribute food to help 1.1 million Somalis living in the areas hardest hit by war, in southern and central Somalia. Enough beans, rice and oil to survive for one month are already being given to 72,000 people in [...]
