Briefs
FrontLines - June 2009
UN Says Sudan
Humanitarian
Crisis Eases
AL FASHER, Sudan—Two
months after 13 key
international aid agencies
were expelled from Sudan,
the U.N. on May 10 said it
was cautiously optimistic
about the humanitarian
situation in Darfur.
The U.N. emergency relief
coordinator, John Holmes,
who was visiting the region,
said there was no hard
evidence that more people
had died because of the
disrupted aid effort, the BBC
reported. However, the
situation remained fragile.
The foreign aid agencies
were expelled after Sudan’s
President Omar al-Bashir was
indicted for war crimes by the
International Criminal Court.
Holmes said that, despite the
expulsion, the humanitarian
situation had not deteriorated
as dramatically as many had
feared since the U.N. and the
Sudanese government have
filled many gaps.
Privately, other U.N.
officials went further,
arguing that the operating
environment had actually
improved, and welcoming
the fact that the Sudanese
government was being forced
to take more of a role in the
relief effort.
Pakistan Tribal
Areas Get Clean
Water Assessment
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—
USAID has completed an
assessment of 500 water
systems in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA), the Agency reported
April 23. The report included
maps for each Agency and
Frontier Region showing
the type of water supply
schemes, contamination
levels, depth to water table,
and population served.
Unclean water and poor
sanitation account for 60
percent of child deaths in
Pakistan, and approximately
630 Pakistani children die each
day from diarrhea. The water
data will help donors expand
and repair water systems as
well as construct new ones. USAID has already started to
rehabilitate 20 water supply
systems in Khyber Agency.
Pakistan’s
Parliamentarians
Trained to Govern
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—
Newly-elected members of
parliament have received a
training course by USAID
that gives an overview of the
structure and functions of the
assemblies, procedural rules,
and the committee system,
the Agency reported in April.
The $11.2 million USAID-funded
Pakistan Legislative
Strengthening Project
conducted the orientation for
senators elected in early
March. Since the February
2008 elections, the project
has provided orientation
sessions for all the national
provincial assemblies for
newly-elected members.
Somalia Fighting
Drives Thousands
to Flee
MOGADISHU, Somalia—
Fierce fighting in Somalia’s
capital has killed 113 civilians
in the past three days and
forced more than 27,000 to
flee their homes, a human
rights organization said
May 12, according to the
Associated Press.
Some 10,000 civilians fled
their homes in Mogadishu
May 12 alone, according to
Ali Sheik Yasin Fadhaa of the
independent Elman Human
Rights Organization. About
345 civilians have been
wounded in what has become
Mogadishu’s worst violence
in recent weeks, he said.
The renewed violence in the
Horn of Africa nation is pitting
pro-government fighters against
those allied to al-Shabab, an
insurgent group seeking to
overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed
government and
establish an Islamic state.
From news reports and
other sources.
From news reports and
other sources.
★
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