Border city scrambles to provide for caravan of Central Americans. More than a month after setting off from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, a caravan of Central American refugees and migrants has been arriving in Tijuana, at Mexico’s border with the United States, over the weekend. Some 2,500 people are now staying at a shelter set up by the authorities in a sports centre which only has room for 1,000 more. The New York Times reports that, with the nearby port of entry to San Diego already facing a backlog, those at the shelter may have to wait several months for an interview with a US asylum officer. Tijuana mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum has appealed to Mexico’s federal government for more assistance to cope with the influx, which sparked a protest by a small but vocal group of local residents on Sunday. A simultaneous demonstration was held in support of the refugees and migrants. | | |
| Dozens killed in attack on IDP camp in Central African Republic. At least 37 people were killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a Catholic mission in the town of Alindao, 300 kilometres east of the capital, Bangui. The camp, where 20,000 internally displaced people were sheltering, was set on fire on Thursday following clashes between two rival armed groups. Thousands were forced to flee into the bush and to other IDP camps in Alindao. In a separate incident on Friday, a UN peacekeeper was killed during an attack on a base for MINUSCA , the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the country, in the southwestern town of Gbambia. Peacekeepers were reportedly trying to protect civilians who had sought refuge at the base. The attacks come barely two weeks after fighting between armed groups displaced more than 27,000 IDPs from camps in Batangafo. In a statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was greatly concerned at the rise in violence in CAR and said the attacks against civilians and UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes. | | |
| Rescued refugees and migrants refuse to disembark in Libya. Dozens of refugees and migrants are refusing to leave the cargo ship that picked them up nine days ago and brought them to the Libyan port city of Misrata. Although some of the passengers agreed to leave the ship last week, Al Jazeera reports that 77 remained on the ship on Sunday. Speaking to journalists over the phone, some of those on board said it was too dangerous for them to return to Libyan detention centres. UNHCR has been providing aid to those on the ship. Spokesperson Paula Barrachina Esteban told Al Jazeera that the agency was in discussions with the authorities, “advocating for a solution to be found”. | | |
| Four injured during police raid of Rohingya camp in Myanmar. Four Rohingya were injured during a police operation at Ah Nauk Ye camp for internally displaced people in western Rakhine state on Sunday. Police reportedly entered the camp, which is home to more than 4,000 displaced Rohingya, to arrest two men accused of smuggling camp residents out of the country in a boat that was intercepted on Friday. The boat was carrying 106 Rohingya who had been at sea for 15 days in a failed attempt to reach Malaysia. A nine-year-old girl had died on the boat after reportedly drinking seawater. Myanmar authorities stopped the vessel at KyaukTan, south of Yangon, and detained all those on board. | | |
| ‘Life is miserable’: South Sudan’s food crisis. The Washington Post reports that much of South Sudan’s most productive agricultural areas have emptied of people as a result of the country’s five-year conflict. Abandoned farmland has impacted the food supply and left those who remain in South Sudan reliant on imported food. But a plunging exchange rate has pushed up food prices and devalued incomes, making survival increasingly difficult, even for those earning a regular salary. Meanwhile, food aid often doesn’t reach the people who need it. The food crisis threatens to worsen what is already Africa’s biggest exodus of refugees since the 1990s. | | |
| Refugees swap Australia’s overcrowded cities for the Outback. While Australian cities grapple with congestion and high house prices, many regional towns are faced with dwindling and aging populations. The government is proposing that newly arrived refugees and migrants live in smaller towns for a few years, in the hope that they will decide to make them home. AFP reports on some of the refugees who have already found job opportunities and a warm welcome in small towns eager for an injection of new blood. | | |
| In this bonus episode of the Awake at Night series of podcasts, best-selling author and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Khaled Hosseini talks to Melissa Fleming about his personal story of being displaced by war and what drives him to keep writing about the refugee experience. | | |
Less than half of the more than 6 million people in South Sudan in need of food assistance are expected to receive it in the coming months.
| | |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment