By API

Photo: Kate Holt/IRIN

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamud fled his home in Mogadishu in 2010 (file photo)

NAIROBI,  – Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamud, a 29-year-old widower, fled his home in 2010 in the Karan District of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and arrived in Dadaab refugee camp, eastern Kenya. He is the sole survivor from a family of nine. He spoke to IRIN about how he lost his family and his current situation.

“One night in 2008, during intense fighting between government forces and insurgents in my home area [north Mogadishu], a shell landed on our home.

“When I woke up in hospital, my five sisters, one brother, my parents and my newly-wed wife were dead. I was the only survivor. I had shrapnel in most of my body.

“It took me months to recover from my injuries and when I came back to our neighborhood many people had left. Our house was almost destroyed. I stayed with relatives and tried to go back to the market to make a living.

“Being a religious person, I felt I had to try and live my life but it was hard. One day, I have a family, a wife, parents, a brother, and sisters, and the next day they are all gone and I am all alone.

“My family was buried while I was in the hospital, so I had to go to the cemetery to visit them, but even that was difficult because of the fighting.

“Finally, in November 2010, I decided I could not take it any more. I left Mogadishu and came to this camp in Kenya. The doctors in Somalia could not remove all the shrapnel from my body, so I thought maybe the doctors here will be able to.

“But the main reason I left was not drought or anything else but fear. I did not want to end up like my family.

“When I arrived in Dadaab, I joined hundreds of thousands of other Somalis. I was surprised how crowded the place was. Since I had no relatives, I stayed with a family from Mogadishu who had heard of what happened to me.

“Up to now, I have had no help with my injuries and I still have no shelter of my own.

“There are too many of us and almost everyone is in a desperate situation, so who do you help first? One thing is that I don’t have to worry about shells landing on me or the noise they make. However bad my situation is here, I don’t have to worry about hearing guns.

“I hope to return to Mogadishu and get married again. I am hearing that slowly, peace may be returning to Mogadishu. If that happens, I would like to return.”

ah/cb
source www.irinnews.org

By API

Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN

A prisoner is released from Yangon’s Insein Prison

YANGON, – A 24-year-old political prisoner in Myanmar who expected to spend the next eight years in prison walked free today, as one of the first to be released in a mass amnesty announced this week by the government.

The activist, Noe Noe, expressed hope that the move signalled a change for her country. But she also was asking what others worldwide are wondering, too – who else will be included on the government’s amnesty list.

“I’m just half happy,” Noe Noe, who was sentenced in 2008 to serve 11 years for her involvement in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, told IRIN. “There are many more political prisoners, including my relatives, behind bars.”

The military-backed Myanmar government on 11 October announced it would release 6,359 prisoners over three days, beginning on 12 October, without specifying how many would be political prisoners. The non-political prisoners include those who are elderly, disabled, and in poor health, according to the government.

Opposition groups and the international community have been calling for Myanmar to release about 2,000 political prisoners, restore national reconciliation, and end human rights violations. This is the second amnesty the new administration has announced since taking office at the end of March. In May, 65 political prisoners were included among 14,600 prisoners freed.

While questions about the most recent amnesty remain, politicians and activists have been expressing their support for the move, the latest of several under a new administration that may signal a move toward greater freedom in the country.

“I’m very, very happy. We’ve been calling for it for so long,” said Thein Nyunt, an independent Member of Parliament who has consistently called for the release of political prisoners. “It’s a sign the government shows of national reconciliation.”

The families of prisoners and other supporters crowded together outside the notorious Insein prison on 12 October, with some arriving as early as 5am to watch who would exit the gates first. Under the hot sun, supporters wearing yellow shirts held signs that read “Free all political prisoners now,” and “May the national reconciliation last long.”

Step towards national unity?

The political prisoners freed included those sentenced to long term-imprisonment. Among them were Zarganar, a well-known comedian, who began serving a 35-year sentence in 2008, and 75-year old Maj-Gen Hso Ten, a Shan ethnic leader, who was sentenced in 2005 to serve 105 years.

Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, general-secretary of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said the release of political prisoners is an important step towards national unity and renewed talks between the government and opposition groups. She said such a move is desperately needed in Myanmar, Southeast Asia’s poorest country and one that has been under military rule for decades.

“The president shows that he listens to the people’s voice and that he looks forward to working together [with opposition groups],” said Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, who added that her happiness exceeded words since she was once imprisoned, too, for her political activities.

Politicians, including Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, said that the recent changes, including the suspension of a controversial dam project, show the Thein Sein government is heeding the concern of its people. However, some political activists and analysts said additional reforms are needed.
 
Nyi Nyi Aung, a naturalized US citizen who escaped Myanmar after the 1988 uprising, said amnesty should be granted to all political prisoners. Noe Noe, who also walked free today, is Nyi Nyi Aung’s cousin.

“All political prisoners have to be released unconditionally, and wars in the ethnic areas have to be stopped,” said Nyi Nyi Aung, himself a former political prisoner.

lm/es/cb
source www.irinnews.org

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families of prisoners, myanmar government, political prisoners, national reconciliation, and opposition groups.

By API

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN

UN emergency response coordinator Valerie Amos sees a growing role for Asian countries in humanitarian response

SHANGHAI,  – A top UN official says Asia can, and should, play a more prominent role in the humanitarian response to major natural and man-made disasters.

“The era when the international humanitarian system was dominated by a few countries and aid agencies from the West is over,” Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told participants at the region’s fourth Regional Humanitarian Partnership Meeting on 12 October in Shanghai, noting that the relative wealth and power of nations was moving from west to east, and north to south.

“We see a proliferation of donors, aid organizations, technologies and fresh ideas – offering perhaps for the first time the prospect of a truly global response system,” she said.

Up to 100 disaster management professionals from 25 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the UN, the Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and international NGOs are attending the two day-meeting to exchange ideas and compare best practices.

“The world is changing and the international community needs to recognize that, as does Asia, which is the most disaster-prone region in the world,” Oliver Lacey-Hall, regional head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN.

In 2010, disasters in Asia and the Pacific affected more than 201 million people. Of the 373 recorded disasters, 22 were in China, 16 in India, and 14 in the Philippines. Eighty-nine percent of all people affected by emergencies last year lived in Asia.
 
“There is not much we can do to stop many of these events taking place. But, by working together, we can do more to prepare for them ahead of time, to reduce the human cost when they do happen, and to rebuild lives in their aftermath,” Amos said.

ds/cb
source www.irinnews.org

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red crescent societies, emergency relief coordinator, international ngos, man made disasters, and david swanson.

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