dadaab, credit UNHCR

Dadaab May Not Close So Soon

Residents of the world’s largest refugee camp get a temporary reprieve. “Kenya’s government said on Wednesday it had agreed to delay the closure of a Somali refugee camp that it sees as a security risk, after international pressure to give residents more time to find new homes. Nairobi had vowed to shut Dadaab camp this month, saying it was being used by Islamist militants from neighbouring Somalia who have launched a string of attacks on Kenyan soil. But rights groups criticised the decision over the camp, saying it would hurt Somalis fleeing violence and poverty, and accused Nairobi of forcibly sending people back to a war zone. The government dismisses that allegation.” (Guardian

Good news in the global fight against terrorism…Terrorism deaths fell last year thanks to a weakening of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Boko Haram in Nigeria, but both groups expanded their geographic reach, a new index revealed Wednesday. Some 29,376 people died from terrorism in 2015, down 3,389 on the previous year and the first fall since 2010, according to the Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. This fall was thanks largely to 5,556 fewer deaths in Iraq and Nigeria — a reduction of one third since 2014 — as military operations weakened IS and Boko Haram. However, both groups also expanded their geographical reach last year, with Boko Haram killing more people in Niger, Cameroon and Chad than in the previous year.” (AFP https://yhoo.it/2f0N9cg)

Quote of the day: “While I can’t stand here and speculate about what policies our President-elect will pursue, I will tell you this: In the time that I have spent in public life, one of the things I’ve learned is that some issues look a little bit different when you’re actually in office compared to when you’re on the campaign trail.” – U.S. Secretary State of John Kerry in a speech delivered at the international climate conference in Marrakesh. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fVSPX4)

An appropriate choice…Oxford dictionary editors have chosen their word of the year: “post-truth,” a term sometimes used to describe the current political climate. (AP https://yhoo.it/2ghD40O)