Nairobi (Kenya) � Somalia is facing the worst humanitarian crisis of the past 18 years, with an estimated 3.76 million people – half the population – needing aid as security deteriorates, officials say.

“The recent post-Gu [long rains] analysis by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit [FSNAU of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization] indicates that this is the worst humanitarian crisis in Somalia in the last 18 years, since the collapse of the previous government,” Graham Farmer, head of the FAO and acting UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told IRIN on 25 August.

He said the number now needing humanitarian aid had increased due to heightened conflict in some areas and drought in others.

“Thus, despite the extraordinary efforts of humanitarian workers, the crisis factors are intensifying,” Farmer said.

“I call upon all those who control territory in Somalia to recognize and respect humanitarian agencies and to support their unhindered access to populations in need.”

Cindy Holleman, chief technical adviser at FSNAU in Somalia, said the current situation “signals a serious deterioration in the emergency food security and nutrition situation from earlier this year.

“More worrying is that the escalating fighting and conflict [are] occurring in the same areas where we are now recording the greatest problems of food access and malnutrition,” she said. “This will not only place additional burdens on the people already in crisis, but will also make it difficult for humanitarian relief to reach the vulnerable populations most in need of humanitarian and life-saving interventions.”

On 24 August, FSNAU issued a statement saying most of the people in need, or 75 percent of the 3.76 million, were concentrated in south and central Somalia – where the fighting is greatest and the areas most inaccessible to humanitarian operations.

Abdullahi Shirwa, a civil society activist, told IRIN the worst-affected were displaced people and children.

He said the spread of fighting had led to many people being displaced from their homes in small towns in south and central Somalia.

“The displaced around Mogadishu get some help, however little, but those in the smaller towns away from Mogadishu have no access to help,” Shirwa said.

He called on humanitarian agencies “to be creative” and do all they can to reach these people. “Saying we cannot reach you now is a death sentence on those people [rural and small-town displaced].”

FSNAU said the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) had increased significantly since January, from one million to more than 1.42 million people now, a 40 percent increase in six months.

The agency said: “One in five children are acutely malnourished, while one in 20 are severely malnourished. Earlier this year the numbers were one in six children. These national rates of acute malnutrition are amongst the highest in the world.

“An estimated 285,000 children under five are acutely malnourished, of whom 70,000 are severely malnourished and at an increased risk of death if they do not receive the appropriate specialist care.”

The food security and nutrition situation of the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the north is deteriorating after two to three consecutive seasons of below-normal rainfall, FSNAU warned.

FSNAU said humanitarian access to these regions was good, unlike south and central Somalia; “therefore it is critical that these areas receive appropriate levels of emergency livelihood support and nutrition response, to prevent a further deterioration into humanitarian emergency”.

source.irinnews.org

Chiadzwa (Zimbabwe) � The militarization of Zimbabwe’s diamond fields is still a fact of life, despite a report by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) – an international initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds – citing the presence of soldiers as a major concern that could lead to the country’s suspension from the global diamond trade.

The KPCS interim report recommending Zimbabwe’s six-month suspension from importing and exporting rough diamonds was leaked to the media in July 2009, but the suspension is only expected to be enacted in November 2009 at the annual plenary meeting of the organization in the Namibian capital, Windhoek – although this is not a foregone conclusion.

The interim report called for the “immediate demilitarization of the Marange fields [of which Chiadzwa is part] and a comprehensive investigation of the role of the Zimbabwe National Army, Zimbabwe Republic Police, and other officials in abuses in the Marange diamond operation.”

An IRIN correspondent who visited the area this week said access to the Chiadzwa diamond fields, in the eastern province of Manicaland, was blocked by armed soldiers and police, and there were frequent roadblocks in the area.

“Armed soldiers and police details, some mounted on horses and others with vicious dogs, continue to terrorise the villagers. They [the security forces] were on their best behaviour during the KPCS visit, but went on to unleash more terror on local people,” a teacher who declined to be identified told IRIN.

The IRIN correspondent was subjected to both vehicle and body searches by security personnel at numerous roadblocks in the province, and saw what appeared to be new earthmoving equipment en route to the diamond fields.

“The situation on the ground [in Chiadzwa] is of great concern,” said Annie Dunnebacke, a campaigner for Global Witness, a UK-based NGO that seeks to prevent the use of natural resources to fuel conflict, and a prime mover in setting up the KPCS.

It has been ten months since human rights abuses were exposed in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. “In spite of global attention, evidence of human rights abuses and the facilitation of [diamond] smuggling by the [Zimbabwean] military … the Kimberley process is hiding behind the excuse of procedure.”

Dunnebacke told IRIN that Zimbabwe’s disregard for the KPCS was “sending a bad message” that “the international agreement has rules, but no consequences for those that don’t follow the rules.”

The international agreement has rules, but no consequences for those that don’t follow the rules

Andrew Bone, Director of International Relations at De Beers, told IRIN: “The [diamond] industry is eagerly awaiting the Kimberley Process final report, and just as eagerly the findings and recommendations of it, and that any and all of the recommendations are carried out in a timely fashion.”

The KPSC final report on Zimbabwe’s diamond trade, although not yet completed, is expected to be presented at the Windhoek plenary meeting, but according to those familiar with the process, the findings in final reports rarely differ from those in interim reports.

The KPCS relies on governments, the diamond industry and concerned NGOs to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds, also known as “blood diamonds”, which are often mined with scant regard for the human rights of the miners, and have overwhelmingly been used to fund conflicts, especially in underdeveloped countries.

However, a visit to Zimbabwe by the current KPCS chair, Namibia’s Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, Bernard Esau, under the auspices of the organization but without the consent or prior knowledge of other partners, angered NGOs as well as several governments party to the international agreement.

Esau visited Zimbabwe soon after the KPCS announced it would investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, which observers said “politicized” the international conflict diamond agreement.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Namibia’s South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) government forged close ties during their respective struggles for independence, and their armies fought side by side during a recent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, conflict diamonds are rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict armies at undermining legitimate governments … There is no armed conflict or any involvement of a rebel army or movement in Zimbabwe; therefore Marange diamonds do not fall within KPCS definition of conflict diamonds,” Esau told local media.

After publication of the interim report calling for the six-month suspension of Zimbabwe from the world’s diamond trade, a local chief in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, who said he had assisted the KPSC fact-finding mission, was arrested.

Chief Newman Chiadzwa was charged with the unlawful possession of 8.61kg of diamonds, under the Precious Stones Trade Act, in the Mutare magistrate’s court on 20 August.

According to “investigations” by the Herald, a state-controlled daily newspaper, “Newman Chiadzwa … is posing as Chief Chiadzwa” and was an “illegal diamond dealer”.

The Herald said, “Newman was neither a chief nor a headman of the area in which the diamond fields are situated”, and that family members had told the newspaper “he [Newman] was a problem in the family, and was actively working for Zimbabwe’s suspension from international diamond trading.”

source. irinnews.org

Harare (Zimbabwe) – Un-named government officials have rubbished reports that Robert Mugabe missed the burial of the late nationalist Richard Hove because he was unwell and had flown to Dubai for treatment.

“The president is not sick but was away on holiday. He returned home yesterday (Tuesday), and those reports are a load of rubbish that we get from sick and evil minds,” Reuters news agency quoted the official saying.

The presence of Mugabe’s urologist in Dubai, Awang Kechik, fuelled suspicion he was there to check up on the ZANU PF leader. Kechik is normally based in Malaysia. A few years ago Mugabe suffered a prostrate cancer scare but it was never known whether the cells turned out to be ‘benign’ or cancerous.

Mugabe did return home on Tuesday and his party officials began issuing denials that he was not in poor health. “He took his children on a week’s holiday before schools open next week. He does this every year. He’s back in the country,” another official was quoted as saying. Mugabe’s health remains a closely guarded secret and it would be unlikely any of his close aides would admit he is receiving treatment or give details of any ill health he might be suffering from. A South African Sunday Times report quoted passengers aboard the scheduled Air Zimbabwe flight on which Mugabe travelled saying he appeared ‘gaunt’. Speculation was rife over the weekend that he was unwell.

Journalist Denford Magora suggested in his blog that Mugabe would use the trip, as he normally does, to have his Botox injections. “It is likely that when he does come back, you will see him looking chubbier around the face than he has been the last few weeks. The Zimbabwe dictator has been having these injections since 2002.” He said the injections “have a noticeable effect on Mugabe, who looks gaunt and drawn when their effects have worn off and quite healthy and chubby about the face soon after they are administered.” Magora claimed the last time Mugabe had these injections was just before the inauguration of Jacob Zuma in May this year.

It is a measure of how reviled Mugabe is in many quarters that any reports of his ill-health are celebrated. After 29 years of iron fisted rule, marked by the Gukurahundi Massacres, Operation Murambatsvina and numerous bouts of election related violence and murder, not many wish him well. Some years ago the former Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, said he would pray for Mugabe’s death so that the country could return to peace and prosperity. Mugabe would later respond with a ‘honey-trap’ that saw the bishop disgraced and removed from his position. While Mugabe’s supporters call the speculation on his health ‘evil and sick’ the victims of his misrule continue to speculate, and hope. As they see little hope for any real change in Zimbabwe while Mugabe holds on to power.

Meanwhile Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are due to meet South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday. Zuma is set to officially open the Harare Agriculture Show. Despite Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba denying that Zuma will tackle outstanding unity government issues, MDC officials insist he will meet all three party principals and seek a resolution of the ‘toxic’ issues. The Secretary General of the African National Congress Gwede Mantashe has also confirmed that Zuma will be more ‘vocal’ in dealing with what he sees as ‘deviant behaviour’ in the power sharing government.

Those hoping Zuma will crack the whip on Mugabe will probably be disappointed by the fact that he will cease to be SADC chair in a few weeks and DRC President Joseph Kabila will be taking over. Kabila has in the past spoken of Mugabe as a ‘father figure’ and will feel bound by a sense of loyalty, given that Mugabe unilaterally sent in troops and massive military support to help Kabila Snr in a war described as Africa’s World War – a conflict that sucked in 7 African nations and resulted in the deaths of over 5 million people.

Zimbabwe’s support of this conflict was one of the main reasons for it’s own economic collapse, but ZANU PF’s ruling elite had been rewarded with rich mineral concessions, that continue to this day.

Earlier this year SW Radio Africa exposed the fact that Vice President Joice Mujuru was using her daughter, based in Spain, to market the gold and diamonds the family was illegally exporting from the DRC. One deal alone was said to be worth US$20-US$40 million for the Mujuru’s – each month.

source.swRadioAfrica (UK/Zimbabwe)

Photo: Pierre Holtz/IRIN

Talibe beggar in Senegal. When is piety just about profits? (file photo)

NIAMEY,� – Some of the highest-ranking teachers of Islam, known as marabouts, are responsible for trafficking children through Niger to neighbouring countries to beg and bring home cash, according to the research group Open Society Initiative for West Africa, which funded a recent local NGO training with more than 20 marabouts on the Koran and education.

Koranic teachers are often implicated in domestic and cross-border child trafficking from Niger, according to a 2005 study by the National Nigerien Association of Human Rights.

The non-profit Niger Association to Deal with Delinquency and Prevent Crime (ANTD) conducted a training late July in the capital Niamey, the first of three scheduled seminars nationwide, with marabouts chosen �for their power and influence� said the group�s coordinator, Amadou Idrissa. The seminar covered Koranic passages on the religious necessity of educating children.

One of the marabouts who attended the training told IRIN Islamic principles sanctions child begging � but only to a certain limit. �Once the child has received his daily quota in his tin can, he should return to his Koranic teacher to pursue his religious studies and not stay on the streets,� said Oumarou Garba.

Entrusted by their families to live with marabouts to study the Koran, the children � known as talib�s � are frequently seen begging with tin cans to earn their keep, which � Garba said � is part of their religious education.

�These children should under no condition serve to enrich their teacher,� he told IRIN. �But certain rogue teachers take advantage of this situation to deprive children entrusted to them of an education.�

He said the training helped him to learn more about the Koran�s position on the value of education.

Some international child protection organizations question�whether children labelled as trafficking victims fit the legal definition or are working in exploitive conditions.

ANTD�s Idrissa said some Koranic students are pushed by uninformed parents as well as their teachers into begging under brutal conditions, losing out on education years.

�These youths are completely dependent on their teachers, at least for their food,� said Idrissa. ANTD cond ucts regular skills training for former Koranic school students to help them become self-sufficient after years of begging, he added.

Most the youth regret never having received a formal, secular education said one of ANTD�s trainers, Aria Maiga, who works with former talib�s in Tillab�ry, 115km west of the capital Niamey. �They welcomed the training and many are making a living in their new jobs,� she said.

There were 384,000 students registered with more than 50,000 Koranic schools in Niger in 2004, the most recent data available from the Ministry of Education.

But ANTD�s coordinator told IRIN it is difficult to estimate the number of Koranic students in Niger because teachers move their classes frequently and their attendance lists are unreliable.

bb/pt/np source.www.irinnews.org