Trouble in Lake Chad

Despite gains against Boko Haram a crisis looms in this region. “Nearly half a million children around Lake Chad face “severe acute malnutrition” due to drought and a seven-year insurgency by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, UNICEF said on Thursday. Of the 475,000 deemed at risk, 49,000 in Nigeria’s Borno state, Boko Haram’s heartland, will die this year if they do not receive treatment, according to the United Nations’ child agency, which is appealing for $308 million to cope with the crisis. However, to date, UNICEF said it had only received $41 million, 13 percent of what it needs to help those affected in the four countries – Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon – that border Lake Chad.” (Reuters http://bit.ly/2bSMVEY)

Report of the Day: Arab Spring Uprisings have significantly reduced life expectancy in the region…New from the Lancet. “ Between 2010 and 2013, Yemen, Tunisia, and Egypt lost about 3 months of life expectancy, whilst the war in Syria has erased 6 years off average life expectancy, with men expected to live to around 75 years in 2010, falling to about 69 years in 2013. For Syrian women, average life expectancy dropped from about 80 to 75 years over the same period.” (Euraklert http://bit.ly/2bSLTci)

Quote of the Day…“It is not that common for the ICRC to donate morgues. The fact that we now do is telling of the size of the human tragedy in Yemen.”  —  Rima Kamal, Yemen bases spokesperson for the Red Cross/Crescent (the Intercept http://bit.ly/2bSMXgh)

Bizarre arrest of the day: A Nigerian man is being charged for provoking people and “breach of peace” by naming his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari and painting the name twice on the pet, police said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2bDlnC2)

Africa

Nearly half a million children around Lake Chad face “severe acute malnutrition” due to drought and a seven-year insurgency by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, UNICEF said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2bjyiOH)

Burundi could scrap presidential term limits from its constitution after a commission set up to hear public views on governance said most citizens wanted no curbs on the number of times the head of state may seek re-election. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2blOEVP)

As Zimbabwe prepares for the bleak coming dry season in September and much of October, on the heels of more than a year of El Niño-induced drought, it finds itself running out of water. (TRF http://yhoo.it/2blOhdC)

The increasingly disgruntled people of Gabon go to the polls Saturday in a presidential election in which a last-minute opposition pact has robbed incumbent Ali Bongo of a clear run at a second term. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bKkgCy)

In Eastern Uganda and parts of Western Kenya, circumcising teenage boys is a practice carried out every two years and is performed as a sign of the community’s unity. The countries are now trying to figure out how to make these circumcision ceremonies appeal to tourists. (DW http://bit.ly/2bjSVXO)

African children will account for more than 40 percent of the world’s poorest people in 2030, almost double the current share, unless more is done to improve education and healthcare, a UK-based thinktank said on Thursday. (TRF http://bit.ly/2blObTn)

MENA

 

The United Nations human rights office called on Thursday for more light to be shed on the Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen and for violations including attacks on hospitals to be punished. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bZcdn0)

Iraq’s parliament impeached Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi on Thursday over corruption allegations, removing him from office as the army gears up for an assault on Islamic State’s de facto capital, Mosul. (Reuters http://reut.rs/2bSLh6r)

Libya’s U.N.-backed government said on Wednesday it would continue seeking approval from the parliament based in the east of the country, despite members of the assembly voting to reject the fledgling administration. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2bj7XKD)

France’s foreign minister said on Thursday the Security Council had to respond firmly after a U.N. probe found that Syrian government troops were responsible for two toxic gas attacks. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bKk4mE)

Turkey sent more tanks into northern Syria on Thursday and demanded Kurdish militia fighters retreat within a week as it seeks to secure the border region and drive back Islamic State with its first major incursion into its neighbor. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bjQwwz)

An Israeli soldier shot dead a Palestinian motorist who had stabbed him and threw rocks from his car at a military vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bKkk5d)

Asia

Authorities in eastern India are struggling to evacuate more than 100,000 people stranded in villages after floods intensified, killing more than 300 and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes, officials said on Thursday. (TRF http://yhoo.it/2bA2XF3)

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to bring up major rights violations, including a “policy of disappearances”, when Germany hosts the president of Turkmenistan next week. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bA1gYa)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile and declared it “the greatest success,” which puts the country in the “front rank” of nuclear military powers, official media reported. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bj7I2m)

The Philippines could suspend more mines in a crackdown on environmental abuses that has halted operations of 10 miners, a minister said, dismissing a claim by mineral producers the review was a “demolition campaign” against them. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bKjR2M)

The Americas

Colombia’s president is moving fast to hold a plebiscite on a landmark peace deal reached with leftist rebels, presenting to congress Thursday the full text of the accord that he says will end a half-century of bloody combat. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bJMGfS)

Brazil’s Senate opened the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday and hear witnesses for and against the leftist leader who is expected to be removed from office next week on charges of breaking budget laws. (VOA http://bit.ly/2bRTw1b)

…and the rest

The development community is eyeing the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria replenishment on Sept. 17 as a litmus test for aid under U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and the new head of the country’s Department for International Development, Priti Patel. (Devex http://bit.ly/2bSLDKg)

Within hours of the earth shaking and houses collapsing, thousands of volunteers from all over Italy had descended on the country’s stricken central mountains to bring what help they could. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bRPmX4)

A former manager of a home for asylum-seekers in Germany has been charged with raping a Syrian woman. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bRP8zx)

More than 36,000 asylum seeker claims were made in Britain in the 12 months to June, according to government figures published on Thursday, the highest number in over a decade. (TRF http://yhoo.it/2bA2Glh)

Countries with dilapidated transport networks and unsafe power grids stand a greater risk of extreme natural events becoming humanitarian disasters, a report has found. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2bmrYzP)

The European Union’s executive branch rejected Thursday the U.S. government’s complaint that its probes into sweetheart tax deals between EU governments and big companies are hitting U.S. firms hardest. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bKknOl)

Opinion/Blogs

The game of thrones for Mexico’s drug cartels has begun (CNN http://cnn.it/2blPyfT)

Bold moves, tepid gains: Have central banks met their limit? (AP http://yhoo.it/2bZcTZH)

Could America’s War On Terror Creep Across Africa? (African Arguments http://bit.ly/2bA2t1t)

It’s time to talk about fraud in aid agencies (Guardian http://bit.ly/2bZe7nw)

How Colombia conflict developed over decades (AP http://yhoo.it/2briK7w)

Zimbabwe’s government is standing by as its wildlife is slaughtered (Guardian http://bit.ly/2bJLtoQ)

Why Sexism Is a Threat to Gender Equality Gains (New Times http://bit.ly/2bRQKsP)

Social Media Crackdown: The New Normal for Africa? (VOA http://bit.ly/2bJMcGB)

Direct democracy: lessons from Trump and Brexit for international development (ODI http://buff.ly/2bjCrll)

Zimbabwe’s rock and hard place (IRIN http://buff.ly/2bjCsWv)

Tribute: The Man Who Killed Smallpox (Goats and Soda http://buff.ly/2brV6I3)

TB in PNG: the impact on children (DevPolicy http://buff.ly/2brUhyV)