Humanitaire

Civilians in Chad are still facing high levels of banditry and danger as the European force (EUFOR) hands over to a UN force later this week (Mar 15). Although the European troops made some civilians feel safer, the underlying security situation has not significantly improved.

The international aid agency, Oxfam, has cautiously welcomed steps in Zimbabwe to form a government of national unity. Now the new government must urgently address the combined humanitarian crisis of cholera epidemic and more than half the population being in need of food aid.

A coalition of 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations today called on John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to insist that protecting civilians be a top priority of the joint Congolese and Rwandan military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Obama has the opportunity to chart a new course for US policy in Afghanistan by taking the urgent steps needed to reverse the slide into a major humanitarian crisis.