World News - .geographical media - RSS

Syndicated content powered by .geographical media

RSS syndication makes it easy to receive content updates in My Yahoo!, Newsgator, Bloglines, and other news readers.

Current Feed Content

---

PAKISTAN: Women and children worst affected by quake

ZIARAT Sunday, November 02, 2008 (IRIN) - Initial needs assessments of survivors of the 29 October earthquake in northwest Balochistan warn that women and children are most at risk. Over 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, were left homeless by a quake that measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and caused at least 270 deaths. Nawab Aslam Raisani, chief minister of Balochistan, has warned the death toll could be more than 300, as authorities continue to search for bodies in remote areas. The...

Kei Ripper survivors tell of terrifying ordeal All three boys say the memories stop them sleeping

ONE of the young survivors of the Kei Rippers first attack says he can still hear the screams of his friend as the killers knife tore into the nine-year- olds body. The boys were with their friend Vika Nqwiliso picking wild fruit in Mcucuzo village near Butterworth when the man confronted them. Two of the boys were sodomised before Nqwiliso bravely offered himself to the killer to protect his friend. I can still hear the screams of my dying friend crying for help at times, especially at...

RWANDA: Reconciliation still a major challenge

Brigitte Mukandoli wasa schoolgirl when a group of militias manning a roadblock near her village ofBishenyi, close to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, seized her.She was taken to a nearby village and raped by 10 men.One of the militia leaders asked her to make a choice: become a wife or bekilled. She became a wife. Later, she learnt that her family hadall been killed. That was in 1994. Now 32, Mukandoli is struggling to accept that it ispossible to forgive her tormentors. "There is no...

RWANDA: Protect genocide survivors, authorities urged

As Rwanda marks the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide on 8 April, the authorities are being called upon to provide better protection for genocide survivors who receive death threats. "The Rwandan authorities should put in place stringent measures to stop acts of atrocity against genocide survivors," said Théodore Simburudali, the head of the umbrella organisation for genocide survivors known by its local name Ibuka, which means “remember” in Kinyarwanda. The authorities,...

CAR: Struggling to undo the damage of sexual violence

The Monam group of rape survivors in the northern town of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic (CAR) does what it can to keep going, but morale is low and money tight. "We've been left to fend for ourselves. We get little help from outside. Many of our members have died," the group's chairwoman, Pelagie Ndokoyanga, told IRIN/PlusNews. Monam, which means "common good" in the Sango language, was set up in 2006 to bring together female survivors of sexual violence committed in 2001 and...

Over 15% of women and girls are subjected to sexual violence in the Central African Republic’s crisis zones

Several thousands of women and young girls have endured rape and other sexual violence in the conflict-torn north of the Central African Republic (CAR). Research suggests that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) strikes well over 15 percent of women and girls in the region. Rape cases are being reported in northern CAR on a weekly basis. The most recent reports mention two twelve-year old girls, who were raped while searching for firewood in the bush near their shelter. A local newspaper...

Into The Quick of Life

The Rwandan Genocide: The Survivors Speak This is a mind-boggling book. It tells the story of theRwandan Genocide from the point of view of its survivors and there are fourteenof them in all. Each of them is representative of society: student, farmer,teacher, cowherd, shopkeeper, mason’s mate, and social worker. Each chapter opens with an exposition of the story in thatchapter. Then the survivor tells the story in his or her own words. CassiusNiyonsoba, a 12-year-old schoolboy, sets the...

RWANDA: Genocide survivors ready to forgive but not to forget

On their way to an afternoon excursion to Lake Gwesero, outside the Rwandan capital, Kigali, members of the Nshuti social club, set up just three months ago, sing raucous local songs. They merrily tease those whose voices fail to impress and shout out requests for their favourite songs. As they approach the lake, the clamour inside the cramped bus quietens as the members come face to face with a stark reminder of Rwanda’s troubled history. A sign by the side of the road identifies this area...

NIGERIA: Flooding, rainstorms force people from homes in the north

Flooding and rainstorms in two northern Nigerian states have left thousands more people displaced and killed many livestock, local officials said. Heavy rains lasting more than 12 hours in northeastern Kebbi State on 28 August submerged at least 300 houses in Dakingari village, leaving more than 3,000 people homeless, Bala Yusuf, an official of the Suru local council in charge of the area said. “Nobody died in the flood but survivors lost their farms and animals,” said Yusuf. “And they have...