KHARTOUM, April 11 -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is set to step down, Al Arabiya sources confirmed adding that some current and former officials have been arrested. Al Arabiya sources also said the Khartoum airport has been closed down. Al Arabiya sources also stated that counter-coup attempt in Sudan had failed. A gathering of Sudanese professionals said they will accept only the handover of power to a civilian transitional government. According to sources, the Sudanese army announced the formation of an interim council headed by the first vice president Awad Ibn Auf. However other sources did not confirm the report, saying that consultaions over the council's members, are still ongoing. Sudanese military vehicles were deployed on key roads, bridges in Khartoum and people were chanting “it has fallen, we won”, Reuters reported. It was earlier reported that the Sudanese army will make an “important statement soon,” state television and radio announced Thursday, as thousands of protesters camped outside the military headquarters in Khartoum demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir. State media offered no further details, as the rally outside the army complex entered its sixth day. Several military vehicles carrying troops entered the army compound in the early hours of Thursday, witnesses told AFP. The compound also houses Bashir’s official residence and the defense ministry.
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TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, April 8 -- Eastern Libyan forces tried to push toward the center of Tripoli on Monday after their easy desert advance hit a tougher urban phase, with deaths and displacements mounting despite Western appeals for a truce and a return to a peace plan. Renewed war in Libya - splintered since Muammar Gaddafi’s 2011 fall - threatens to disrupt oil and gas supplies, trigger more migration to Europe, and wreck U.N. hopes for an election. The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar, a former officer in Gaddafi’s army, said 19 of their soldiers had died in recent days as they closed in on the internationally recognized government in Tripoli. The United Nations said 2,800 people had been displaced by clashes and many more could flee, though some were trapped. The LNA has conducted air strikes on the south of the city as it seeks to advance into the center from a disused airport. But the government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj has armed groups arriving from nearby Misrata to help block the LNA. It reported 11 deaths without saying on which side. Al-Serraj, 59, who comes from a wealthy business family, has run the Tripoli government since 2016 as part of a U.N.-brokered deal boycotted by Haftar. His LNA, allied with a parallel eastern administration based in Benghazi, took the oil-rich south of Libya earlier this year before its surprisingly fast push toward the coastal capital. While that advance was straightforward through sparsely populated areas, taking Tripoli is a far bigger challenge. The violence has thrown into disarray a U.N. plan for an April 14-16 conference to plan elections as a way out of the anarchy that has gripped Libya since the Western-backed toppling of Gaddafi eight years ago. The European Union joined the United Nations, United States and G7 bloc in calling for a ceasefire, a halt to Haftar’s advance and return to political negotiations. WASHINGTON, April 7 -- The United States said Sunday it has temporarily withdrawn some of its forces from Libya due to "security conditions on the ground", as a Libyan military commander's forces advanced toward the capital, Tripoli, clashing with rival militias. A small contingent of American troops has been in Libya in recent years helping local forces combat Islamic State and al-Qaida militants, as well as protecting diplomatic facilities. "The security realities on the ground in Libya are growing increasingly complex and unpredictable," said Marine Corps General Thomas Waldhauser, the head of US Africa Command. "Even with an adjustment of the force, we will continue to remain agile in support of existing US strategy." He did not provide details on the number of US troops that have been withdrawn or on how many remain inside the country. The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, launched a surprise offensive against the capital last week, a move that could potentially drag the country back into civil war. Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and in recent years has been governed by rival authorities in the east and in Tripoli, in the west, each backed by various armed groups. Fighting was underway Sunday at the international airport, some 24 kilometres from central Tripoli, after Hifter claimed to have seized the area. The airport was destroyed in a previous bout of militia fighting in 2014. Hifter said his forces had launched airstrikes targeting rival militias on the outskirts of Tripoli. The rival militias, which are affiliated with a UN-backed government in Tripoli, said they had also carried out airstrikes, slowing Hifter's advance. At least 23 people, including civilians, have been killed on both sides since Thursday. MALTA, March 28 -- Malta deployed patrol boats and a helicopter to capture a migrant-packed Turkish tanker after it was hijacked by asylum seekers rescued by the crew near Libyan shores. The hijacked ship was seized by the Maltese special operations unit on Thursday morning. It was escorted to Malta’s capital, Valletta where all the migrants are due to be handed over to the police. Several patrol boats and a helicopter participated in the operation to intercept and capture the vessel. The migrants hijacked the Palau-flagged Turkish tanker ‘El Hiblu 1’ around 5pm local time on Wednesday after its crew had rescued them off the coast of Libya. The ship was then making its way to the Libyan port of Tripoli, apparently aiming to drop the migrants off there, but suddenly turned around just six nautical miles (11 km) from the shore and headed north, towards Malta. The Maltese authorities confirmed the hijacking and put the nation’s armed forces on standby to confront “the pirated ship.” There are believed to be 108 migrants on board, around 77 of which are adult men, the Times of Malta reported, citing government sources. Other reports suggested that the number of migrants may be as high as 120. It is unclear how many asylum seekers participated in the hijacking. Malta wasn’t the only Mediterranean nation to put its forces on alert. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that Rome was prepared to intercept the tanker if it sailed to the island of Lampedusa or the country’s mainland. He reiterated that nation’s ports remain closed to the ship just like they have been to NGO rescue vessels. JOHANNESBURG, March 20 -- This below analysis should form the base of a case study of how a misguided interpretation of statistics can result in a skewed and unrealistic picture of what’s really happening on the ground. It makes the job of journalists in today’s world that much more important as they need to critically think about the statistics they report on before hitting the publishing button. (The analysis below first appeared in Politicsweb and is republished here with permission.) – Gareth van Zyl On Tuesday this week Police Minister Bheki Cele released the South African Police Service’s crime statistics for 2017/2018. The information contained in the SAPS’ presentation detonated a small explosion beneath a claim repeatedly made, over the past month, by some of the world’s most prestigious newspapers, authoritative “Fact Checkers”, and most brilliant diplomats. How this came to pass is an interesting case study in how, in our current age, a falsity can still travel halfway around the world, and back again, long after the truth has put its boots on and kicked the damn thing to death. The story begins with a reply to a parliamentary question from Freedom Front leader Pieter Groenewald MP by the Minister of Police on the 3rd of May 2018. In it Bheki Cele provided detailed data from the SAPS on the provincial breakdown of farm murders and farm attacks by year from 2012/13 to 2017/18. This was useful information as it suggested that the burden of this type of crime fell disproportionally on farms and small holdings in the eastern half of the country, and that any analysis of this phenomenon needed to take this into account. The figures were not unproblematic however. The national totals for farm murders in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 periods were significantly lower than official figures earlier released by SAPS. The figure of 47 farm murders for the 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 period (down from 74 the year before) also seemed implausibly low. One likely explanation for this was simply that the figures had been compiled only a month after the end of the reporting year, and were not complete. As Sally de Beer of the SAPS had told Africa Check the year before “the database is a ‘live’ system, meaning that the statistics derived from it are subject to change if new information on cases emerges. The database is not primarily intended as a source of statistics, but as an operational tool.” The fact-checking site cautioned in its 2017 fact-sheet on this issue that, “As such, statistics for certain years may change.” There was thus good reason not to put any weight on this last, probably provisional, national figure. Then on the 31st May 2018 Agri SA released a report on farm attacks. This contained the following graph: The source given for the data is clearly “SAPS” (see arrow). The person compiling the graph had merged the data provided to Pieter Groenewald at the beginning of the month with other previously released SAPS statistics. Where they conflicted – for 2015/16 and 2016/17 – Agri SA went with the significantly lower figures from May. The Agri SA report commented: “When police statistics, as announced in Parliament for the past six years, are viewed more closely, it appears that farm attacks had increased while murders declined on a year-on-year basis.” The number of “47” is contained in the graph, but not in the text of the report. Despite Agri SA’s clear admonition to “treat farm attack statistics with caution”, News24 ran a massively hyped-up story the same day asserting that “Farm murders have decreased to their lowest level in more than 20 years, a report by agricultural organisation AgriSA has found.” It made the claim that “According to AgriSA’s statistics, farm murders decreased from 66 recorded incidents in 2016/2017 to 47 in 2017/2018. This was less than a third of the record highs recorded in the late 1990s, when 153 murders were recorded in 1997/1998.” In this way the questionable SAPS numbers released earlier that month were now magically transformed into gold standard statistics from Agri SA. As a Ratcatcher article (published within hours of the News24 report first appearing) noted, the SAPS data Agri SA had used for the past three years was not reliable, and the figure of “47” for 2017/18 was simply wrong. A quick and dirty analysis of the SAPS figures for three provinces revealed at least eight clear cut farm murder cases, reported in the press, which could not have been included in these figures. The article noted:
“Given that a brief news search could establish eight cases missed by the SAPS the true under-count must be substantial. The SAPS figures should also be more not less comprehensive than press reporting. The News24’s headline then is based upon a SAPS figure which was implausible to begin with, and which is provably wrong.” AfriForum, which collects its own data on farm murders and farm attacks, also vehemently disputed this figure. The assertion that there were only 47 farm murders in 2017/18 and therefore at their “lowest level in more than 20 years”, should have been quietly buried, and left to rest in peace from then on. Rise of a zombie factoid In late June 2018 however Jason Burke of the Guardian of London decided to disinter this claim, and the number on which it was based. In an article on the 27th June 2018 he stated that “Forty-seven farmers were killed in 2017-18, according to statistics compiled by AgriSA, an association of hundreds of agricultural associations across South Africa … The new lower totals contradict recent reports in Australian and other western media describing white farmers in South Africa facing “a surge in violence’.” The opening sentence of Burke’s piece contained three factual errors. It conflated farm murders with murders of farmers (not always the same thing), cited a figure that had been already shown to be false (47), and claimed that these statistics had been compiled by Agri SA (they were from the SAPS). This zombie-like factoid – that farm murders were at a “twenty year low” – began massively replicating itself after US President Donald Trump tweeted, following a Fox News broadcast by Tucker Carlson on looming land seizures in SA, that he had “asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers.” In the subsequent rush to debunk Trump’s comments on farm murders this claim was repeatedly invoked by US and British publications, often linking back to Burke’s Guardian article as the source. For example an article in the New York Times on the 23rd August 2018 by Kimon de Greef and Palko Karasz stated that: “The number of killings of farmers, including farm workers, is at a 20-year low, 47 in the fiscal year 2017-18, according to research published in July by AgriSA, a farmers’ organization in South Africa.” This same claim was then repeated in an editorial in the publication denouncing Trump, which added that the “numbers have been declining steadily since peaking in 1998, when 153 were killed.” In an article for the Financial Times Joseph Cotterill stated that “Agri SA, a farmers’ organisation, said in May that farm murders were at their lowest level in two decades. There were 47 murders between 2017 and 2018 compared with 66 over the previous period, it said.” It was also credulously accepted by the American and British Fact-Checking establishment. The Washington Post Fact Checker wrote that “the government’s farm-murder statistic has been declining steadily from its peak in 2001-2002, when the total was 140. Separate figures from Agri SA show that murders of farmers are at a 20-year low, with 47 recorded in the year from April 2017 to March 2018 period, the Guardian reported.” The BBC’s “Reality Check” claimed that “AgriSA, an association of agricultural organisations, also records murders and attacks on farms. It found that in the year to April 2018, there were 47 murders, with their data showing a decline from a high in 1998, when 153 people were killed.” Politifact repeated the claim that “there were 47 farm murders in the 2017-18 financial year” and they “have been declining over time.” But to its (partial) credit it correctly attributed the source of this information to the SAPS, not AgriSA. The internet myth-busting website Snopes meanwhile reposted the AgriSA graph above and also stated that “the number of farm murders in South Africa hit a 30-year low point in 2017-18, according to a report released by the South African Agricultural Industry (AgriSA) that cited South African police data.” Then, at the end of August, Foreign Policy ran an article headlined “In Tacit Rebuke, U.S. Embassy in South Africa Rejects Trump Tweet: Internal cable cites report that farm murders in South Africa are at their lowest level in 19 years”. Robbie Gramer and Colum Lynch reported on the contents of a leaked cable to Washington DC from US diplomats in South Africa which was headed ““Despite Crime Epidemic, Farm Murders Down.” The authors reported that the cable had “cited a recent report by AgriSA, a nonprofit industry group that represents 70,000 commercial farmers, that estimated that there were 47 farm murders from 2017 to 2018, fewer than at any time in the past 19 years.” None of these journalists, diplomats or Fact Checkers though it worth cautioning that the number of 47 had long been shown (by a body-count) to be too low, or even that it was contested. Although implausible to begin with – and long disproven by the time it started feasting on the brains of British and American intellectuals – this factoid was apparently too convenient not to unleash upon readers as well. It was further invested with bogus authority by simply asserting that the number came from Agri SA, rather than highly provisional police figures. News24’s hyped up interpretation of Agri SA’s somewhat more cautious analysis were also presented as reflecting the latter organisation’s own view. End of an error On Tuesday the South African Police Service, during their press briefing, released updated figures for the number of recorded farm murders (though not attacks) for 2017/18. The SAPS presentation stated that there were, in fact, 62 farm murders last year, not 47. The SAPS added that 42 of the murders occurred on farms, 15 on small holdings and one at a cattle post. 46 victims were white. If one compares the provincial breakdown with the information released on the 3rd May there was an under-count of eighteen murders in eight provinces (three of which had been identified by the Ratcatcher) and an over-count of three in one (the North West.) LAGOS, March 17 -- Church leaders in Nigeria have said that Christians are experiencing "pure genocide" as 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have been murdered by Fulani radicals since January. "What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately," said the Christian Association of Nigeria and church denominational heads in Plateau State in a press release last week. The church leaders said that "over 6,000 persons, mostly children, women and the aged have been maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani herdsmen," which is prompting their cry to the government of Nigeria "to stop this senseless and blood shedding in the land and avoid a state of complete anarchy where the people are forced to defend themselves." The press release also pleaded with the international community, as well as the United Nations, to intervene in the Fulani attacks, fearing they might spread to other countries as well. "We are particularly worried at the widespread insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have been taking place on a daily basis in our communities unchallenged despite huge investments in the security agencies," they added, saying President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to bring attackers to justice. They referenced several mass-scale attacks this year, including the slaughter of over 200 people, mostly Christians, at the end of June in raids carried out by the herdsmen on local area farmers near the city of Jos. Although some international news media has sought to characterize the killings as a land conflict between community groups, the church leaders, along with major persecution watchdog groups such as Open Doors USA and International Christian Concern, have all said that Christians are being deliberately targeted. "We reject the narrative that the attacks on Christian communities across the country as 'farmers/herdsmen clash.' The federal government has been so immersed in this false propaganda and deceit while forcefully pushing the policy idea of establishing cattle ranches/colonies on the ancestral farming lands of the attacked communities for the Fulani herdsmen as the only solution to the problem," the press release declared, accusing the government of also pushing such a narrative. "How can it be a clash when one group is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying; and the other group is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed? How can it be a clash when the herdsmen are hunting farmers in their own villages/communities and farmers are running for their lives?" the church leaders asked. "How can it be a clash when the herdsmen are the predators and the inhabitant/indigenous farmers are the prey? Until we call a disease by its real name and causatives, it would be difficult to properly diagnose the disease for the right curative medications." There have been different reports on the number of Christians killed in Nigeria since the start of the year. The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, stated on Tuesday that a combined total of 1,750 Christians, along with non-Muslims, have been killed both by the Fulani herdsmen, and by Boko Haram radicals, who are a separate terror group. Intersociety also warned of a genocide in its statement. "Nigeria is drifting to [a path of] genocide through killing, maiming, burning and destruction of churches and other sacred places of worship, and forceful seizure and occupation of ancestral, worship, farming and dwelling lands of the indigenous Christians and other indigenous religionists in Northern Nigeria," it said. Roman Catholic Bishop William Avenya of Gboko separately told charity Aid to the Church in Need that the world cannot wait for a full-on genocide before deciding to intervene. "Please don't make the same mistake as was made with the genocide in Rwanda," he pleaded, referring to the massacre of Tutsi people in Rwanda, where close to 1 million were killed in 1994. "It happened beneath our noses, but no one stopped it. And we know well how that ended," Avenya said. BEIJING, March 11 -- China’s civil aviation regulator has ordered domestic carriers to temporarily stop flying their 737-8 aircraft, after a plane of the same model operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed yesterday on its way to Nairobi, the second tragedy in five months involving the Boeing jet. On Sunday, a 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines plunged to the ground on its way to Kenya, killing all 157 people on board. That came five months after another 737 Max 8 crash in Indonesia that killed 189 passengers and crew. There were similarities between the two mishaps, since they both occurred during take-off, involving new aircraft that had just been delivered, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) said in a statement on its website. “In accordance with CAAC’s management principle of zero tolerance for safety hazards, the authority has instructed all domestic carriers to temporarily halt operations involving the aircraft model before 6pm on March 11,” the CAAC said. ROTTERDAM, March 9 -- At least 195 people were detained at protests in Algeria, TSA portal reported on Friday citing the police. TSA said that 112 policemen were injured at protests. Earlier reports said that over 1 million people took part in the anti-government demonstration in Algeria's capital on Friday. They demanded that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika does not run for the fifth term in the elections scheduled for April. Protesters said that Bouteflika, aged 82 and seriously ill, is not capable of governing the country. Bouteflika has already served as Algeria's president for four consecutive terms, since 1999. His health deteriorated in 2013 when he suffered a stroke. On Saturday Al Mayadeen TV channel reported that Bouteflika was hospitalized in Switzerland and is in critical condition.
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Ik zeg expres geen weeshuis, want ik schat dat zo’n 90% van de kinderen waar ik mee werkte helemaal geen wees was. Vaak hadden ze nog één of beide ouders, of toch in ieder geval een naast familielid dat bereid was voor ze te zorgen. Ik ga zo vertellen over dingen waar ik (indirect) getuige van ben geweest. TW: seksueel geweld. In Oeganda werkte ik o.a. voor een NGO (gestart door 2 Belgen), die daar een tehuis runden voor zogenaamde wezen. Nadat ik een woordje Luganda had leren spreken en ik met de kinderen die geen Engels spraken kon praten, bleek dat ze vaak gewoon ouders hadden, en terug wilden. “Auntie Charlotte, we want to go back to our familie, but mama [die Vlaamse vrouw] will not let us.” Ik heb het tientallen keren te horen gekregen en iedere keer probeerde ik in gesprek te gaan met de directie, maar tevergeefs. Waarom niet? Omdat kinderen, zeker als ze piepjong zijn, geld in het laatje brengen. Ieder kind in ‘t tehuis had tenminste 3 sponsors, voornamelijk uit de VS. Drie sponsors per kind (150 kids) die allemaal minstens €30 per maand storten: tel uit je winst in een land als Oeganda. Dat is alleen al bijna €14.000 per maand aan sponsorgeld van particulieren, en dan hebben we het nog niet gehad over grote, Nederlandse bedrijven die dit soort tehuizen jaarlijks sponsoren en geen idee hebben wat zich achter de schermen afspeelt. Ondertussen kregen die kinderen elke dag hetzelfde te eten: ugali (weinig voedzame maïspap) of rijst, met een piepklein beetje groente en vrijwel nooit vlees of vis. Aan supplementen werd niet gedaan. Die twee Belgen waren ondertussen beiden morbide obees. Toen die Belgische “mama” een keer in een recalcitrante bui was, heb ik haar horen zeggen: “Die kinderen kunnen me gestolen worden, maar dat geld...” FYI: zij en haar man woonden in een landhuis met personeel, na in hun thuisland al meerdere keren failliet te zijn gegaan. Als je als witte westerling rijk wil worden: begin een weeshuis in Sub-Sahara Afrika. Zij waren het levende bewijs en ik heb het daarna nog tálloze keren gezien. De kinderen waarmee ik bij die NGO werkte, waren bijna allemaal ex-straatkinderen en op extreem jonge leeftijd met seks en seksueel misbruik in aanraking gekomen. Het vereist geen rocket science om te bedenken dat die kinderen begeleiding en intensieve counseling nodig hebben. “Daar is geen geld voor,” vertelden die Belgen mij altijd. Meanwhile waren zij continu op vakantie en vraten ze alles wat los en vast zat. Met welk geld? Hun financiële jaaroverzicht weigerden ze openbaar te maken. Ik heb er vaak om gevraagd. Op een gegeven moment kwamen de Oegandese social workers (die toch vooral bezig waren met basic verzorging) erachter dat de oudere ex-straatkinderen (jongetjes vanaf een jaar of 8) ‘s nachts de baby-ward binnenglipten.. en daar de baby’s stelselmatig verkrachtten. Ik heb ‘t aangekaart bij de directie, en ik was niet de enige. “We are aware of this,” zeiden de Belgen. “We’ve talked to the boys and they will not do it again.” Ondertussen ging ‘t misbruik gewoon door- de baby’s werden al compleet panisch als je in de buurt van hun luier kwam. Ik heb contact gehad met de politie ter plekke, maar deze twee figuren kochten de politie stelselmatig om, en dus werd er nooit een werkelijk onderzoek gestart. Bij deze NGO woonde ook een meisje dat hiv had. Dit was op tijd geconstateerd en ze kreeg hiervoor medicatie (die aansloeg), maar de andere kinderen waren op de hoogte van haar hiv-status en pestten haar genadeloos. Ze werd steeds depressiever en wilde alleen nog maar dood. Meerdere keren hebben werknemers gehamerd op counseling, therapie en groepsgesprekken met alle kinderen. Tevergeefs. “Daar is geen geld voor,” was wederom het antwoord. Ondertussen weigerde het meisje nog langer haar hiv-remmers te slikken. Eindstand Niet veel later was ze overleden. Compleet onnodig. In Nederland heet dit dood door schuld. In Oeganda ontvingen deze twee figuren door alle zielige posts die ze over haar overlijden op Facebook plaatsen alleen nog maar meer donaties vanuit NL, België en de VS. Het was er zo’n hell hole, dat de kinderen (ex-straatkinderen!) die bij dit project woonden vaak liever wegrenden en weer verder op straat leefden. Ik kwam ze soms tegen als ik in Kampala was, en gaf ze dan wat te eten of kleingeld. Eén keer kwam er een jonge, alleenstaande moeder aan onze gate. “Hello, I don’t have the financial resources to look after my daughter right now. Can she stay here for a few months? I will come pick her up soon.” “Sure,” zeiden die Belgen. Alles was mondeling afgesproken. Na een paar maanden kwam ze inderdaad terug. Ik was inmiddels niet meer in Oeganda en hoorde achteraf dat die Belgische vrouw haar had gezegd: “She is our daughter now.” Het is nu VIER jaar later en dat meisje woont nog steeds bij die Belgen. Die moeder had geen poot om op te staan. Geen schriftelijk bewijs of contract, geen geboortecerticaat.. ze kon niks. En dit gebeurt vaker. Niet alleen in Oeganda, maar ook in Ghana, Zuid-Afrika, Kenia en ga maar door, En waarom? Omdat kleine kinderen geld binnen halen. Hoe kleiner, hoe beter. Hoe kleiner, hoe meer geld. Hoe kleiner, hoe schattiger de foto’s op de socials, hoe meer nieuwe sponsors. Een Nederlandse vriendin van mij heeft bij een NGO gerund door twee Nederlanders gewerkt, ook in Oeganda. En is er daar getuige van geweest hoe die Nederlandse directeur letterlijk HOUTEN STOKKEN kapot sloeg op de ruggen van kleuters. Deze twee Nederlanders, een echtpaar, zijn in de Nederlandse media regelmatig op tv en worden dan als ware helden bejubeld. Omdat ze zogenaamd hun hele leven wijden aan het verzorgen van “kansarme, Afrikaanse kinderen die anders dood zouden zijn.” Mijn dikke reet. Again, we zijn naar de politie gegaan. Heeft het nut? Nee, want met het sponsorgeld dat ze binnenhalen is het makkelijk de politie ter plekke stelselmatig om te kopen, en gewoon lekker je gang te blijven gaan. Arme ouders worden door westerlingen betaald hun kinderen af te staan om weeshuizen mee te vullen, overal in Sub-Sahara Afrika. Baby’s worden uit couveuses in ziekenhuizen gestolen. Jonge kinderen worden van straat weggeplukt en ontvoerd. O ja, laten we het ook effe hebben over westerse, volwassen vrouwen in de 20, die de oudste jongens in dit soort tehuizen (16/17 jaar) verleiden tot seks. Ik heb het gezien, en vaak ook. Of die jongens nou ‘consent’ geven, het is verkrachting en grove misbruik van je positie. Iedere westerse randdebiel met een zak geld en slechte intenties vindt wel een mogelijkheid om ergens een weeshuis te openen. Regelmatig blijkt weer een pedofiel ‘n weeshuis te hebben geopend (gebeurt ook in Zuid-Oost-Azië veel), die jarenlang ongestoord tekeer heeft kunnen gaan. Ik heb in al die jaren in Sub-Sahara Afrika ÉÉN tehuis bezocht waar ik geen slecht gevoel bij had. Dat gerund werd door mensen uit het land zelf. Dat niet te veel kinderen aannam. En waar maandenlang gezocht werd naar mogelijke familie. Een weeshuis moet een last resort zijn. Weeshuistoerisme wordt steeds strenger aangepakt in veel landen onder de Sahara, waaronder Oeganda. Maar het gaat allemaal erg langzaam en die stromen voluntourists, die blijven komen. Ik zie ze overal. Ik was ooit een van hen. Die NGO in Oeganda waar ik werkte probeer ik al jaren te sluiten. De Oegandese overheid heeft vorig jaar een lijst gepubliceerd van kindertehuizen die gesloten zouden gaan worden, maar het betreffende tehuis is nog altijd open. Logisch ook, want er stonden letterlijk HONDERDEN tehuizen op die lijst. Wel heb ik hun grootste Nederlandse sponsor na maanden van overleg ervan weten te overtuigen hun jaarlijkse donatie in te trekken. Maar het is niet genoeg. Want die kinderen, die zitten daar nog steeds. Te wachten op hun ouders. Conclusie Conclusie van dit verhaal: als je dan als vrijwilliger aan het werk wil gaan in Sub-Sahara Afrika of Zuid-Oost-Azië, ga dan sowieso NIET naar een weeshuis. Over alle hechtingsproblematiek die daar ontstaat heb ik het nog niet eens gehad. That’s a story for another day. Ondersteun liever een lokaal project dat bijvoorbeeld met straatkinderen werkt, maar vraag jezelf ten alle tijden af: ben ik gekwalificeerd om dit werk te doen? Want I sure as hell wasn’t en dat geldt voor het overgrote deel van de vrijwilligers. Tot slot: ik ga hier later nog over door emmeren maar moet nu weer aan het werk. Feel free om te delen en toe te voegen. Dit zijn helaas geen zeldzaamheden. BUCHAREST, February 1 -- Romania will deploy transport helicopters to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), replacing the Canadian deployment, Canada’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a release. The decision followed a bilateral meeting at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in December 2018, Global Affairs Canada said in a Thursday, January 21 release. “Romania’s commitment to replace Canada is an example of the continuing close cooperation among NATO allies to deliver critical capabilities to the U.N., in line with the “smart-pledging” approach, which ensures countries’ contributions match real needs on the ground,” the release said. “In line with its long-standing support for multilateralism, Romania is proud to cooperate with Canada and other close partners in providing a substantial and effective contribution to a very important U.N. mission,” Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor-Viorel Meleșcanu said. Canada is due to complete its mission in Mali on July 31, and Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan told reporters in Ottawa that troops would return home on schedule. Romania has “made a commitment to replace us,” he said. “They’re working very hard right now to make sure that they have all their capabilities go through the United Nations process just like we did to meet those timelines.” However, a Romanian official noting the country’s peacekeeping efforts said an “airlift helicopter detachment” would deploy to MINUSMA “starting October 2019,” according to a January 30 Ministry of National Defence release. It is unclear which aircraft or how many personnel Romania will deploy to Mali, and Romania’s Ministry of National Defense has not yet responded to a request for comment. Canada’s Presence in Mali
Following two years of talks with the U.N., Canada committed to deploying an air Task Force of helicopters to the U.N. mission MINUSMA for twelve months in March 2018. The first Canadian troops arrived in Gao in northern Mali in June, and the ATF, Operation Presence, became operational in August. Around 250 Canadian personnel are deployed in Gao along with three CH-147F Chinook heavy transport helicopters, and five CH-146 Griffon helicopters, which are intended as armed escorts, according to Canada’s Department of National Defense. Up to 10 personnel work as staff officers at MINUSMA headquarters in Bamako. NAIROBI, January 16 -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said all the gunmen behind Nairobi hotel complex attack have been killed and the 19-hour hostage crisis is over. In a national television address, Kenyatta said on Wednesday 14 civilians died in the attack claimed by the al-Shabab armed group. The president said more than 700 civilians were evacuated from the complex. "The security operation operation at Dusit complex is over and all the terrorists have been eliminated," said Kenyatta. "We have confirmation that 14 innocent lives were lost through the hands of these murderers, terrorists with others injured." Earlier reports said at least 15 people were killed. "We are grieving as a country this morning and my heart - and that of every Kenyan - goes out to the innocent men and women violated by senseless violence. We wish the injured quick recovery and as a nation we will continue to pray for them," said Kenyatta. UTRECHT, January 9 -- Dutch international heavy lift company Mammoet has established a new fleet of heavy lifting operation in Mozambique. The operation which will include specialised equipment and an experienced team of individuals, will be located in Mocímboa da Praia town in Cabo Delgado province. The office, which will report through Mammoet’s South African office, is geared up to provide heavy lifting and transport services and solutions across the country. Davide Andreani, general manager of Mammoet South and East Africa said: “Mammoet has worked in Mozambique for quite a while now, albeit on a project basis. The outlook of Mozambique's economy is positive. Particularly, as capital investments have been growing significantly in the past few years. Mammoet locates its global fleet close to our customers anywhere in the world they need us, in order to serve them swiftly and efficiently. It demonstrates our commitment to be part of, and to contribute to the Mozambique community, working with local people, utilizing the local workforce, training and offering professional development opportunities to help grow our business and the local economy.” CAPE TOWN, January 4 -- Minstrels perform during the Minstrel Parade in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 2, 2019. The annual Cape Town Minstrel Parade took place on Wednesday, bringing the new year celebrations to a climax. About 100,000 spectators from home and abroad watched and cheered the minstrels parading along several major streets in the city. MOGADISHU, November 9 -- At least 20 people have been killed and 17 injured in explosions followed by heavy gunfire in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, according to police.
Plumes of smoke billowed into the air on Friday as at least two car bombs went off near the popular Sahafi Hotel and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Initially, "two blasts struck the perimeter of the Sahafi Hotel along the main road," Ibrahim Mohamed, police official, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. A third explosion later hit the busy street, according to witnesses. Although the attackers "failed to access the hotel, the blasts outside the hotel killed many people," police captain Mohamed Hussein told the Associated Press news agency. "I’ve pulled many dead bodies from the cars," Mohamed Aden, a witness of the attack, told Al Jazeera in Mogadishu. "The number of casualties is unknown as bodies are still being pulled from the burning cars". Some of the victims were burned beyond recognition when one car bomb exploded next to a minibus, Mohamed Hussein, a police captain, told The Associated Press news agency. "The street was crowded with people and cars, bodies were everywhere," said Hussein Nur, a shopkeeper who suffered light shrapnel injuries on his right hand. "Gunfire killed several people, too." Another police captain, Mohamed Ahmed, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying 22 civilians were killed, along with six of the attackers. "So, in total, 28 people died," Ahmed said. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the armed group's Adalus radio station. |
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