peace and security

Renewed military action against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) risks triggering further devastation for local people in DR of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan unless more is done to protect civilians and prevent retaliations by one of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups.

Growing insecurity in Mali and northern Nigeria is disrupting the supply of food to communities suffering from a major food crisis affecting 13 million people in West Africa, said international aid agency Oxfam today.

Yemen is at the crossroads of humanitarian catastrophe international aid agency Oxfam said today in reaction to new figures from the World Food Programme, which showed a radical increase in the number of people facing severe hunger in the country.

Oxfam calls on governments meeting at the London Somalia Conference tomorrow to develop a coherent strategy towards the country that shifts away from the emphasis on short term security and anti-terror concerns towards a long term engagement that prioritizes the interests of ordinary Somalis.

New military escalation in Somalia risks harming civilians and undermining efforts to recover from famine, Oxfam said, as the AU military force (AMISOM) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) launched a major new offensive in an area where 400,000 people are living in densely populated camps.

Oxfam and Islamic Relief today raised the alarm about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen as new surveys revealed that people are going without food for three days and that one in five children is acutely malnourished in some parts of the country.

Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes, an international coalition of 20 leading aid agencies and human rights groups said today.

New bombing raids and a build up of troops along the border of Sudan and South Sudan over the past few days threaten to escalate what is already a significant humanitarian crisis in the newest country in the world.

The new escalation in fighting and insecurity along the Kenya-Somalia border risks increasing the suffering for civilians already devastated by drought and conflict, international agency Oxfam said today, three months since famine was announced in Somalia.

The improvements for Afghan women’s rights gained over the last decade are at risk of slipping away and could be lost in a quick fix bargain for peace, Oxfam warned today.