| Attack in Central Mali leaves 134 dead. A village in Mali’s central Mopti region was surrounded and attacked on Saturday morning by armed men dressed as traditional Dogon hunters. Victims of the attack, who were members of the Fulani ethnic community, included women and children. They were reportedly killed with guns and machetes while nearly all the huts in the village were burned down. The Mopti region has been scene of worsening violence since the beginning of the year, emptying villages and leaving hundreds of people dead. More than 123,000 people are now internally displaced across the country – three times as many as in January last year. More than half of those fleeing their homes are from Mopti. Saturday’s attack took place while a delegation from the UN Security Council was in the country to discuss the increased violence. | |
| UN calls for more assessments before Rohingya relocations to island. In a statement today, the UN said it was in discussions with the government of Bangladesh about “critical protection and operational issues that should be considered” before any relocations of Rohingya refugees to the island of Bhasan Char take place. Bangladesh has said that it aims to transfer 100,000 Rohingya refugees to accommodation constructed on the small Bay of Bengal island by the end of the year to relieve chronic overcrowding in Cox’s Bazar settlements. The UN statement said the viability of the relocations would require “thorough assessments” and “careful planning”. It also called for the views and concerns of refugees to be heard and addressed. | | |
| Clashes in southern Philippines displace 50,000 people. Recent fighting between Philippine security forces and various non-state armed groups has displaced around 50,000 people in three provinces in the southern island of Mindanao , according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. In Maguindanao province, the violence has forced nearly 30,000 people from their homes since early March, according to the government. Another 9,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Lanao del Sur where families are staying in evacuation centres and with relatives. UNHCR is working with its partners on the ground and local government to distribute relief items to displaced families in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur. | | |
| A shelter in Turkey run by refugees for refugees faces closure. Lack of funding could lead to the closure of the Salem Centre , the only shelter of its kind run by Syrian refugee women for other refugee women and their children, according to NBC News. The centre, founded by two Syrian refugee women in the south-eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep in 2013, currently hosts 55 families in 63 small flats. So far it has kept its doors open thanks to individual donations, but as the number of residents has increased, so have the costs. NBC News reports that the centre has done more than put roofs over the heads of the women – it has helped create a sense of community and trust. | | |
| New “caravan” of Central Americans moves north through Mexico. Some 1,200 people from Central America and Cuba began moving towards the US border from southern Mexico this weekend, according to Mexico’s migration authorities. The large group, made up of asylum-seekers and migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba, were already in Mexico when they decided to form a caravan in the southern city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala, said the National Migration Institute. Early on Saturday, they set off towards the town of Huixtla in the southern state of Chiapas, a route followed by previous groups heading north. | | |
| Tanitoluwa Adewumi, the 8-year-old Nigerian refugee who became a media sensation last week after winning a state chess tournament, this weekend moved from a homeless shelter in New York into a two-bedroom apartment near his school. An anonymous donor has paid a year’s rent on the apartment. In total, a funding drive raised US$200,000 for Tani and his family. They have decided to keep only a fraction of it for themselves and donate the rest to help other African refugees and migrants struggling to start new lives in the US. | | |
This week marks four years since the conflict in Yemen began. In that time, nearly 15 per cent of the population have been forced to flee their homes.
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