Conflits et Urgences

Northern Mali will descend to emergency levels of food insecurity in less than two months if the security situation and humanitarian access to vulnerable communities do not improve.

According to new figures, more than $2.2 billion worth of arms and ammunition have been imported since 2000 by countries operating under arms embargoes.

Growing insecurity in Mali and northern Nigeria is disrupting the supply of food to communities suffering from a major food crisis affecting 13 million people in West Africa, said international aid agency Oxfam today.

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters, warns Oxfam.

On the day Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is officially inaugurated in front of heads of state from around the world, more than 300,000 people remain displaced from their homes within the country and in neighboring Liberia, and they are in dire need of assistance.

Coalition forces are not doing enough to prevent abuses by Afghan forces and have been too slow to address the issue as they prepare to hand over responsibility for security, Oxfam and other agencies said today.

In 2010, millions of men, women, and children were killed, raped, displaced, injured, or recruited by force in armed conflicts throughout the world.

The international community's record on protecting civilians in 2010 was uneven and often biased, according to a new report published today by international agency Oxfam. Thousands of civilians were killed in conflicts last year alone while millions were displaced from their homes.

Despite recent political developments, the humanitarian emergency remains and the needs of people affected by extreme fighting continue to escalate, a coalition of 13 aid agencies has warned today.

Violent attacks and looting have forced thousands to flee Ivory Coast for Liberia over the past 24 hours, Oxfam said today. As battles continue to surround the presidential residence in Abidjan, serious violence against civilians is still reported in the west of the country.