Top of the Morning: University Awards First-Ever Degrees in Gender and Peace Building

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Senegal University Awards First-Ever Advanced Degrees in Gender and Peace Building

The World Bank and the African Capacity Building Foundation have supported the only program of its kind in Africa Twenty-nine graduates (15 women and 14 men) from university and professional backgrounds made up the first class, remarkable for its diversity. The students were from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Togo and the Republic of Cabo Verde, no fewer than 13 sub-Saharan African countries…The objective is to ‘close the gaps in training and fulfill the need to protect women’s rights when armed conflicts occur,’ said FAS president Bineta Diop. The program will constantly evolve to take into account new risks and new threats as they arise, especially in the Sahel region, she noted.” (World Bank http://bit.ly/N596ti)

Hospitals Targeted in South Sudan Fighting

Patients were shot in their bed and entire wards burned down. “MSF staff witnessed the gruesome aftermath of recent armed attacks and clashes in Malakal in Upper Nile State, discovering patients murdered inside the town’s Teaching Hospital. In another disturbing violation of medical structures since conflict erupted in mid-December 2013, an MSF team returned to Leer, in Unity State, and discovered the hospital thoroughly looted, burned and vandalised. Vast parts of the town appear to have been razed to the ground.” (MSF http://bit.ly/N59yI0)

 

Credit: Djenebou Diallo, a 27-year-old woman from Côte d’Ivoire, at her graduation ceremony.  /World Bank