By PETER MUNAITA
A humanitarian crisis is sweeping across Africa as wars, popular uprisings, separatist movements, drought, natural disasters and diseases displace people, raising serious questions on the priorities of economic managers and political leaders.
Apart from the well-publicized
war or instability in countries like Somalia, South Sudan, regions of
Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic, Sudan, Libya and
Algeria, more than half of African countries are in some form of turbulence,
according to the United Nations Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (Ocha).
The crises manifest themselves in big refugee populations, both internal and
external, hunger and malnutrition, unemployment and civil strife as people
compete for increasingly fewer resources — means of sustenance like water and
land, social amenities like schools and basic commodities.
An assessment of humanitarian needs for this year by the UN shows that $25 billion will be required to assist 94 million people who are in need, including those in Syria…Read more>>
