Catholic aid is helping returned African migrants counter hunger, COVID-19
Harare, Zimbabwe Religion Unplugged Catholic organisations are stepping up efforts to assist migrants returning to Africa as southern African countries – including Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Malawi – relax COVID-19 restrictions and open up land borders. In some countries, strict lockdowns worsened hunger and joblessness, threatening asylum seekers and citizens returning from abroad with […]
Inequality seen as a root cause of West Africa’s Sahel crisis
Dakar, Senegal Thomson Reuters Foundation Unequal access to wealth is one of the main causes of worsening violence in West Africa’s Sahel, which has forced millions to flee their homes, conflict analysts said on Thursday. While Islamist groups are active in the troubled region, just south of the Sahara desert, the unrest is driven more […]
On the frontlines: Africa’s unsung army of women wage war on COVID-19
NITA BHALLA and EMELINE WUILBERCQ, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how women across Africa have taken up positions on the frontline of the battle to contain the coronavirus…
Using lessons from Ebola, West Africa prepares remote villages for coronavirus
Dakar, Senegal Thomson Reuters Foundation West African countries are using community health systems set up after the Ebola outbreak to detect and prevent the spread of coronavirus in remote areas, health experts said on Wednesday. After Ebola swept through the region from 2014 to 2016, countries like Senegal trained community workers to proactively check for […]
Central America’s “poorest of the poor” hit hard by US aid cuts – charities
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation From drought-hit farmers and hungry children to battered women, tens of thousands of people in Central America have been hard hit by US Government aid cuts, according to major charities. Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – known as the Northern Triangle – was […]
Postcards: With reservoirs at risk, Sierra Leone’s capital confronts water crisis
NELLIE PEYTON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Freetown…
US aid cuts to Central America may backfire, fueling migration north – charities
Thomson Reuters Foundation A decision by the US Government to cut aid to three Central American nations is “counterproductive”, likely to backfire and fuel rather than stem the flow of migrants north fleeing gang violence and dire poverty, charities said this week. The US State Department said on Saturday it would carry out President Donald […]
Church leaders pray for Ethiopian Airlines crash victims as they grieve for clergy
Nairobi, Kenya RNS Amid shock and grief after the Ethiopian Airline crash, leaders from the world’s faith traditions gathered in Nairobi for a United Nations event, united in prayer on Monday for the 157 victims of the air disaster, among them a Roman Catholic nun and a Catholic and a Lutheran priest. Some 5,000 delegates […]
Tens of thousands “left to starve” as Mali conflict escalates
Thomson Reuters Foundation Tens of thousands of people who have fled fighting in Mali since September are going hungry because funding has run out as the conflict has escalated, aid agencies said on Wednesday. The West African country has been a battleground of Islamist militants, ethnic militias and international troops since a rebel uprising was […]
US Catholics affirm seeking asylum is not a crime as Central American caravan draws closer to US border
Three prominent US Catholics have issued a statement affirming that “seeking asylum is not a crime” as a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants heads across Mexico to the US border. In a statement issued this week, Bishop Joe S Vásquez, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on migration, Sean Callahan, president […]