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matteo mohorovicich
http://20six.co.uk/mohorovicich
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africa
senegal to censor media
A
ten hour silence by radio. Last week on Monday 10 Senegal leading radio
"Sud" has been closed for most part of the day because after the radio
interviewed Salif Sadio, leader of the armed wing of the secessionist
Democratic Forces Movement of Casamance (MFDC). Police arrived around 9
o'clock in the morning during the airing of the interview and ordered
to stop all transmissions.
The order was given by Interior Minister Ousamane Ngom, in the interests of State security, he said.
After a 22 year independence war to separate Casamance region from
Senegal, a deal was signed last december to end the conflict, even if
hardliners in MFDC refused to do that. According to Ngom, Sadio used
his 20 minute interview to call for the continuation of the 22 year
indipendence struggle.
The only question is if State security could be reached by stifling the media...
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Zimbabwe and the growing price of anti-Aids drugs
+550% in three months. That's the amount on the price of a monthly supply of antiretroviral drugs in Zimbabwe.
From Zim $200,000 (US $ 7,70) to Zim $1.2 million (US $46) in most pharmacies.
Nevertheless, David Parirenyatwa, Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and
Child Welfare, told PlusNews that the government's treatment programme
continued selling the drugs at the same price - Zim $50,000 (US $2) -
and would continue to be heavily subsidised by the state, protecting
patients from price fluctuations.
Is it true? By now Zimbabwe, which has the world's forth rate of Hiv
infection, is going through a severe economic crisis: fuel and food
shortage due to recurring droughts and the government land
redistribution programme, which have disrupted agricultural production.
By now, says Lynde
Francis, who runs The Centre, an Hiv/Aids NGO with 4,500 registered
clients, people are forced to interrupt theri treatment, because they
have to choose between feeding and educating children or taking
anti-Hiv drugs.
Read more at Irin
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Sudan and Darfur: UN renews his mission and hopes Janjawid to be disarmed
Unmis
(UN Mission in Sudan) was renewed on Friday for further six months by
the UN Security Council. The Mission was settled to help the
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on January 9
by SUdanese president Umar al-Bashir and the former chaiman of Sudan
People's Liberatin Movement/Army (Spml/a) John Garang, who became
vice-president. The agreement put an end to the 21 year Noth-South
civil war, between Arab and non-Arab inhabitants, and led to a
government of national unit on September 21.
But instability is still in the air, as the death of John Garang in a
helicopter accident showed. On August 1, when the announcement was
given, inhabitans of the South went down on the street and assault
their Arab compatriots, claiming that Garang's death was caused by
al-Bashir's regime. Twenty-eight people were killed anc a curfew was
imposed in the capital Karthoum. The hate between Noth and South is
still living.
On the other hand, yesterday Juan
Mendez, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the Prevention of
Genocide, said in Karthoum tha Janjawid, an Arab militia group allied
to the Sudanese government, must be disarmed if peace is to return in
western Sudan region of Darfur. Since the start of the conflict, in
fact, janjawid were accused of the massacre of non-Arab inhabitants of
the region. Nowadays, according to UN, Janjawed remain still an
obstacle to the pacification of the country.
The UN says more than 2.9 million people continue to be affected by the
conflict, of whom 1.85 million are internally displaced or have fled to
neighbouring Chad.
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Somalia between polio and humanitarian emergency
According
to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), a new
anti-polio campaign in Somalia will start in the capital, Mogadishu,
and will be launched in the whole country on September 28 (the sixth in
this year). Two new cases have been confirmed and 20 suspected are
under investigation. So immunization teams would move from house to
house vaccinating children under age five.
Somalia is polio free since 2002, but there is growing concern that outbreaks in near Ethiopia would spread.
Anyhow, situation seems under control.
Less controlled, on the other hand, seems humanitarian emergency.
Always according to Ocha, more than 100,000 people in in southwestern
Gedo district are in urgent need of assistance. The Ocha warning is
that about 1 million people in the whole country coul be in need of
help.
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potential avian influenza beats malaria epidemic
Nowadays
avian influenza (well known as bird flu) seems to be the biggest worry
in the world. It was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago
and now occurs worldwide: outbreaks among poultry (the most affected
are chicken, turkeys, quails, ducks and geese) have occurred in China, Japan, Vietnam,
South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, US and Cambodia. But why people are so anxious?
The fact is that bird flu can also spread to humans on close contact.
So western contries fear an epidemic coming from the East and put out
an alert on the "new" disease.
But the "old" malaria interests nobody. Expecially if it's spreading in
Africa. A Unicef update on Ethiopia says that about six millions people,
expecially children, are threatened by a potential malaria epidemic.
According to a study published in the East African Medical Journal in
April, six million people malaria cases have occurred in Ethiopia during
the last epidemic, between April to December 2003, with up to 114,000
fatalities.
To avoid a new epidemic, Unicef needs - the update says - about $22
million, to fund a nationwide polio immunization drive and reach people
in need of water. Malaria cases rose from June to August and renewed
fears of a new epidemic.
See my fotoblog here
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matteo mohorovicich
