And Now, A Cholera Outbreak

This Tanzanian town had a population of 11,000 before the Burundi crisis. Now its population has swelled to over 90,000 and diseases are taking hold.  “A cholera outbreak has killed at least 30 people in a Tanzanian refugee camp for Burundians, a World Health Organization official said Thursday, underscoring the dire circumstances of masses of people who are fleeing political unrest…A “severe humanitarian crisis” is unfolding in Tanzania because an influx of refugees from Burundi is overwhelming health and sanitation facilities in the area, WHO has warned. It said between 500 and 2,000 Burundians are arriving daily in Kagunga, a tiny fishing village on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LpS7Kz)

Deadly protests in Burundi…Protesters in Burundi battled police on Thursday in violent anti-government demonstrations against a third term bid for power by the president, as security forces tried to stem unrest a week after a failed coup. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1FAeSuJ)

Stat of the Day...An increase in income inequality between 1985 and 2005 knocked 4.7 percentage points off cumulative growth between 1990 and 2010 on average across a range of the OECD’s 34 member countries.  (AP http://yhoo.it/1F4uJy2)

Inequality is a big problem…The widening gap between haves and have-nots in much of the developed world not only raises concerns about the fraying social fabric — it’s also dramatically holding back economic growth, according to a new global study. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LpS4OW)

What You Need to Know About the Rohingya Refugee Crisis…In this 20 minute podcast episode, Sarnata Reynolds of Refugees International describes the current situation in the Andaman Sea and why trafficking groups operating out of the jungles of Thailand are making life even more miserable for Rohingya fleeing persecution.  (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/1R6zJtt

Africa

Rape and killing driven by revenge is spiralling to new highs in South Sudan after 18 months of fighting and the world looks the other way, according to aid groups working in world’s youngest country. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1BegOnf)

African countries will launch a framework next month to create a 26-nation free trade area by integrating three existing African trade blocs to boost regional trade and investment, a South African minister said on Thursday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1BegNjg)

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said on Thursday that Western donors are setting degrading conditions for aid to the east African nation and he could be forced in time to tell them: “keep your aid”. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1AhLrxg)

Health care systems in West Africa that collapsed during the Ebola epidemic must be rebuilt urgently to provide basic services and confront other killer diseases, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1BegO6R)

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday it was stepping up its work in the Lake Chad region, where more than a million people have been forced from their homes by the Boko Haram insurgency. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1BegODJ)

Girls as young as eight in Mozambique and Zambia are forced to go to camps where they are shown how to please a man in bed in order to prepare them for married life, activists said at an international conference on ending child marriage. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1AhLucD)

Hundreds of children are being kept behind bars in Cote d’Ivoire’s overcrowded adult prisons waiting on trial dates due to the country’s broken post-crisis criminal justice system. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1eiAGkj)

Congo’s government is bringing in outside experts to investigate the long-term impact of some $6.7 billion in contracts with Chinese companies that critics say could exploit the central African nation’s mineral riches. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LpS6X9)

Belgium warned Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza on Thursday that it would cut off aid to his government if he went ahead with his bid for a third term in office. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1LpS8hO)

MENA

Qatar insisted Thursday it was “committed” to improving conditions for its huge number of migrant labourers following an Amnesty report accusing Doha of failing to deliver on promised reforms. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1FAeNqK)

President Obama gives a wide ranging interview about ISIS, Iran and Israel to Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic. (The Atlantic http://theatln.tc/1ej7JEP)

Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to make a bid to head the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, in a move that has been described as the “final nail in the coffin for the credibility” of the HRC. (The Independent http://ind.pn/1F4ukeP)

The United Nations says it has received reports that Syrian forces in Palmyra prevented civilians from leaving, ahead of its fall to Islamic State militants. (BBC http://bbc.in/1F4usem)

Asia

Thailand could prevent more than 5,000 HIV-related deaths in the next decade if it expanded HIV testing and treatment among gays in Bangkok, where about one in three males who have sex with men is infected, researchers said. (TRF http://reut.rs/1AhLv04)

Chinese fishing boats have been illegally fishing off West Africa, Greenpeace said on Wednesday, adding that Chinese companies expanded operations in Africa from 13 vessels in 1985 to 462 vessels in 2013, but the government said they are within the law. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1AhLsBw)

Denied their traditional route out of poverty in the Gulf and often urged on by relatives, growing numbers of young Bangladeshis are joining the waves of Rohingya trying to reach Southeast Asia on horror boat journeys. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1LpS1CQ)

At least 15 people have been killed and thousands more forced from their homes by flooding in southern and central China and more rain has been forecast for coming days, officials said Thursday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1FAeFro)

The Americas

The Brazilian government has sent investigators to the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais to look into the murder of journalist Evany Jose Metzker. Mr Metzker’s body was found on Monday in a rural area near the town of Padre Paraiso, five days after went missing. (BBC http://bbc.in/1c7DmQa)

In some counties in the U.S. South, almost 20 percent of adults have severe vision loss. And those communities are also likely to be among the nation’s poorest. Lack of regular eye care is just one issue. (NPR http://n.pr/1c7Dqzm)

Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe submitted papers to run for president shortly before the election office’s deadline, after repeatedly saying he had no plans to seek Haiti’s top political position. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LpSdBZ)

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet acknowledged her government had endured a difficult few months and sought in her annual State of the Union address on Thursday to regain the political initiative by outlining the details of a raft of new bills. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1LpSeGc)

…and the rest

DfID is failing to capitalise on partnerships with the private sector because of a lack of concrete targets and detailed operational plans with a clear focus on reducing poverty, the UK’s aid watchdog has said. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1LpPFUC)

European gold, tantalum, tungsten and tin imports from conflict zones will be subjected to tougher surveillance procedures under a new regulation adopted by the European parliament. (EurActiv http://bit.ly/1LpPBUR)

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is still seeking a United Nations Security Council resolution on potential attacks on smugglers, EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Thursday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1LpS5lT)

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday restricting European Union migrant access to Britain’s welfare system would be an “absolute requirement” when he renegotiates his country’s ties with the bloc.(Reuters http://yhoo.it/1LpS3KW)

The U.N.’s fund for climate aid to developing countries says it now has enough cash to kick off projects before a key climate summit in Paris. (AP http://yhoo.it/1FAeGeY)

Opinion/Blogs

Poor people are not lazy, so stop debating it (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1LgNUby)

4 Things You Need to Know to Understand Burundi Now (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1LgNWAe)

The U.N. at 70: The Past and Future of U.N. Peacekeeping (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1Begt48)

Here is what Tony Abbott has to say to some of the most persecuted people on Earth (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1LpPngm)

Privatising public services is no way to fund sustainable development (Guardian http://bit.ly/1eiAyRQ)

The other Grade 3 emergencies apart from Ebola (Devex http://bit.ly/1LgOMga)

Liberating ourselves from our liberators (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1Pz1ZYc)

Nigeria: The PDP Thinks about Its Next Steps (Sahel Blog http://bit.ly/1LgOPJ3)

Are Anticorruption Parties Doomed to Fail?: Purity, Pragmatism, and Reflections on India’s AAP (Glboal Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/1LgOOoo)

Don’t prevent atrocities in Burundi, respond to today’s realities (Reinventing Peace http://bit.ly/1LgOTsh)

What do we know about the long-term legacy of aid programmes? Very little, so why not go and find out? (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/1LgP9Yk)