Renewed violence in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is forcing mass displacement from a region where authorities are struggling to contain the Ebola outbreak. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who visited the area recently, estimated that some 400,000 persons are displaced throughout Ituri Province. The International Organization…
Humanitarian workers say they’re working to repatriate Somali and Ethiopian refugees who are trapped in Yemen, but problems with the flight permissions necessary to evacuate them were hampering the effort. “The flight delays are putting thousands of migrants’ lives at further risk,” said Mohammed Abdiker of the International Organization for…
Some 65 people have drowned off the coast of Tunisia, after their boat sank early Friday about 83 kilometers from the shore as they attempted a Mediterranean Sea crossing. Another 16 people were rescued and brought to the coastal city of Zarzis by the Tunisian Navy, according to UNHCR, the…
This week’s drama aboard a Turkish oil tanker with 108 rescued migrants aboard illustrated yet again the desperation of those seeking to flee the lawlessness of Libya on dangerous routes across the Mediterranean – and now there’s some evidence that Libyan officials, tasked with the rescues, don’t respond when called…
The weeklong United Nations Environment Assembly began in Nairobi on Monday with a moment of silence for the 157 victims aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which crashed near its origination at Addis Ababa on Sunday with dozens of UN staffers, global delegates and participants on board. Acting UN Environment director…
On Monday morning at 10 a.m., the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) based in Nairobi will begin the first plenary session of the UN Environment Assembly – and they’ll do so with empty seats. That’s because according to estimates, up to 50 passengers aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which crashed…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
There may be a sliver of a silver lining for Ethiopian migrants in Djibouti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations agency for refugees and migrants. More of them want to go home. The IOM Djibouti staff says that a tragic accident in January near Godoria…
The cost of remittances for African migrants was the focus of a three-day meeting in Ghana, as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other stakeholders looked at how to improve access. While the money sent home to families in sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise, the cost to transfer…
More than 130 migrants went missing on Tuesday morning when two boats capsized off the coast of Djibouti. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations agency for refugees and migrants, said the boats capsized about 30 minutes after leaving shore because they were overloaded as they headed into…
Ahead of a storm forecast for the Mediterranean Sea, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, joined in a humanitarian aid appeal Monday asking for safe ports for two vessels carrying 49 migrants. “Time is increasingly of the essence,” UNHCR said in a New Year’s Eve statement. “Rough seas are expected…
At least 25 people are dead or missing after some passengers in a group of six migrant boats were stranded on the Mediterranean Sea before rescuers reached them off the Spanish coast on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency, UNCHR, said the Spanish Coast Guard found the boats…
More than 400 Ethiopian migrants who have been stranded in Yemen are headed home, as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) begins flights to take them to Addis Ababa. The first group of 102 Ethiopians landed in Addis Ababa on Monday, with another 316 arriving by Thursday through a Voluntary…
The Government of Morocco, under pressure to stem the tide of African migrants crossing into Spain, has established new entry visa rules for travelers from some African nations. Reuters reports that the new requirements apply in up to seven countries that have historically had no visa requirement to visit Morocco….
More than 1,700 people have died this year on the Mediterranean Sea migration route to Europe, and both UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the UN Migration Agency, appealed jointly to European governments on Wednesday to change their “dangerously toxic” discourse on migration. “The current tenor of the political debate…
The UN agency for migration has a new director general, with António Vitorino of Portugal taking the helm this month as former United States diplomat William Lacy Swing steps down after two five-year terms. The 61-year-old Vitorino is a former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, and was Portugal’s…