The Blackberry Technology Company announced today that it has worked with Facebook to launch an updated “web-based Facebook app” which people can use to continue enjoying the features of the BlackBerry 10 OS and BlackBerry OS app for Facebook.
The news comes a week after Facebook announced it was killing support for its BlackBerry native app on March 31. “Facebook will continue to support BlackBerry 10 and BBOS. The experience will be slightly different, but you will still get the same Facebook features you love,” the post stated.
In addition, the new Web-based app offers some features that are not available in the existing Facebook app for BlackBerry. These features include the ability to reply to comments and see replies to comments. All posts will now load in your feed, and “any features available to Facebook website users will be available to you in the updated application.”
The announcement will please some users who were otherwise concerned about accessing Facebook on their phone after March 31. “Our fans are fighting for us, and we love their support. That’s why we have worked hard with Facebook to address some technical challenges and the best solution was to move forward with a Web-based app,” the company wrote today.
UN Peacekeepers Gave African Girls $9 For Dog Se x – Group
An advocacy group has released rather unsettling news detailing the horrific tale of how at least 98 Central African Republic (CAR) girls were allegedly sexually abused by international peacekeepers.
According to rt.com, the report was released by AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization, obtained. The group said that MINUSCA, the UN’s peacekeeping mission in CAR, met with local leaders and victims “who reported that troops from France and Gabon have sexually abused several girls in their province.”
The group cited three CAR girls who said that they, along with a fourth girl, were raped by UN peacekeepers.
The girls said they “were tied up and undressed inside a camp by a military commander from the Sangaris force (the French military intervention in CAR) and forced to have sex with a dog,” the group wrote.
Then after the debasing act, each girl was reportedly given 5,000 Central African Francs ($9) or roughly N1800
“The three girls interviewed sought basic medical treatment. The fourth girl later died of an unknown disease. One of the survivors said that she was called ‘the Sangaris’ dog’ by people in the community.”
According to the group, the alleged perpetrators “left CAR, returning home in 2015.”
Also the organization mentions one more case of a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by a Congolese UN peacekeeper.
The girl’s mother told police that the peacekeeper “raped her daughter in a hotel room at 4pm on Monday, March 28, 2016.”
“When police questioned the accused in the presence of his UN military commander, the soldier confirmed that he ‘had sexual intercourse’ with the victim several times, and paid her between 2,000 and 3,000 Central African Francs [$3-5dollars].”(or N600-N900)
The report was sent directly to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who immediately issued a response, expressing his horror.
“I am shocked to the core by the latest allegations of abuse by international forces in the Central African Republic. Our focus must be on the victims and their families. We are talking about women and young children who have been traumatized in the worst imaginable way,” Ban said in a statement, released by the UN.
He added that these crimes by UN peacekeepers “only fester in silence.”
“Yet, we must face the fact that a number of troops who were sent to protect people instead acted with hearts of darkness.”
Earlier in March the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) said it received new allegations which refer to incidents which occurred in 2014 and 2015 in the Kemo prefecture of the CAR.
The UN investigation into “these sickening allegations, which suggest sexual abuse and exploitation of a large number of women and girls, must leave no stone unturned,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
“We are taking these allegations – some of which are particularly odious – extremely seriously. It is vital that the victims are protected and receive all necessary care,” he said.
The United Nations currently has 106,000 troops and police serving in 16 peacekeeping missions.
Syrian Crisis Dealing BIG BLOW To Nigeria – UN
The United Nations (UN) Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ms Fatma Samoura has stated that the UN is having challenges in mobilising resources for Nigeria’s Boko Haram-ravaged North-east in view of the humanitarian crises in other parts of the world.
She made the declaration yesterday during a visit to Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima at the Government House in Maiduguri, the state capital,
Followng Governor Shettima’s position that the $800 million set aside by the World Bank to rebuild the Northeast, is ”grossly inadequate”, Ms. Samoura, the UN representative, expressed regret over the situation, saying the crisis in Syria is hindering support for Nigeria’s North-east
“As we all know, the Syrian crisis that is affecting Europe is also taking a heavy toll in terms of funding from our traditional donors.
“We are trying our best to ensure that our advocacy and our communication strategy are up to the level where we will be receiving more attention from the donor community.
“The humanitarian response plan, as we speak, is just 10 per cent funded, meaning we have only received 24 million dollars.
“This is out of 248 million dollars budgeted for the North East of Nigeria for 2016,” she said.
Samoura, however, pledged that the UN would continue to complement the World Bank and the EU support to address the root causes of poverty and exclusion in the North East.
“The UN will also support the Borno Government in its work on recovery and rehabilitation for the safe return of the IDPs back to their areas of origin,” she said.
Samoura said her visit to Maiduguri was to demonstrate the sympathy of the UN to the appalling situation of the 1.8 million people who have been displaced by insurgency.
She commended the strong leadership and commitment of the governor to finding sustainable solutions to safe and voluntary return of the IDPs to their places of origin.
Five Jailed For Beating Journalist To Death Over Facebook Comment
Five men on Friday were sentenced in Azerbaijan for up to 13 years in prison for beating to death a journalist who had criticised an Azeri football team player on Facebook.
Court in the capital Baku found the men “guilty of inflicting serious bodily harm that caused the death” of journalist Rasim Aliyev, judge Eldar Ismayilov said in the courtroom.
The men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from nine to 13 years.
Aliyev, a 30-year-old photo and video journalist for a number of online publications, died in hospital in August last year after being beaten by a group of men who had contacted him over his Facebook post about a heated football match between teams from Cyprus and Azerbaijan.
Aliyev had criticised the behaviour of the Azeri team Gabala’s striker Javid Huseynov who waved a Turkish flag after the match with Cypriot team Apollon Limassol and allegedly made an offensive gesture at a journalist.
Aliyev wrote that Huseynov “did not know how to behave” and should not play in matches in Europe.
Aliyev told the Turan agency before his death that he had received insulting comments about the post.
He said he was contacted by telephone by a man claiming to be a cousin of the player. After initially abusing him, the man phoned him back in a conciliatory tone and invited him to drink tea.
“I came out alone. There were five or six of them and they immediately threw themselves at me and started beating me up,” Aliyev told the agency.
He later died in intensive care after his condition worsened and he underwent an emergency operation.
Mango Tree Dispute Kills 2 People, 40 Houses Burnt In Edo
At least two people have been killed and 40 houses burnt down after an inter communal clash broke out in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State.
The communities, the Uneme-Ekpedo and Bekuma-Okpameri communities clashed on Wednesday after some members quarrelled over a mango tree.
It was learnt that some people from Uneme-Ekpedo community went into a bush to pluck mangoes, but one of them was killed by youths from Bekuma-Okpameri community, who claimed the mango tree belonged to them.
Angered by the killing, youths from Uneme-Ekpedo reportedly mobilized and attacked Bekuma-Okpameri and set houses ablaze. The palace of the traditional ruler of Bekuma-Okpameri, HRH Moses Alabi, is among houses torched by the rampaging youths.
Many residents of Bekuma-Okpameri were said to be camping Lampese, a neighbouring village, as there community has been completely sacked.
Edo State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, confirmed the incident, saying the Police has begun investigation into the tragedy.
Thanks for reading.
Uganda attempts to treat the malignant disease of inequality
audi Luganga Musisi can hardly remember when his family last had breakfast. “We care more about lunch and supper,” says the father of six. “Having breakfast means we won’t have enough money for lunch and supper.”
Musisi, 52, lives in Kibbe zone, a sprawling slum in the Kalerwe suburb in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. His home, which he rents for 60,000 shillings (£12.50) a month, squats beside pools of stagnant rainwater – a world away from the well-watered, emerald-green lawns of the upmarket suburb of Kololo, just across town. Stones hold down the corrugated roof, and the walls are cracked. A sack of sand sits in the doorway to keep any running water out.
Like tens of thousands of others in Kampala, Musisi, a casual worker, has not benefited from Uganda’s steady economic growth, which has averaged above 6% since 2002 (pdf). He has no piped water, or sanitation. His family share a pit latrine with five other households.
Across Uganda, at least 13.8 million people (pdf) use unsanitary or shared latrines. More than 3.2 million people have no toilet at all. Open defecation contaminates drinking water sources and can spread cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid. Those living in rural areas are most at risk – eight out of 10 people in villages live without improved drinking water sources.
For Musisi, poor sanitation has a real, and costly, impact on his life. Every month, he spends 80,000 shillings on medicines, which sometimes pushes him into debt – his average monthly income is 120,000 shillings.
“Every month, we have a [family] member who has malaria or another infection. That’s what disturbs us here.”
Nearly 23% of households spend more than 10% of their total household income on healthcare. About 4.3% of Ugandans are impoverished annually due to out-of-pocket health payments.
Parliament is due to debate a bill to pave the way for legislation to introduce national social health insurance, as a first step towards universal healthcare. The bill has been around since 2007 but has been held up by disagreements between government and employers on how to fund it. Fewer than 1% of Ugandans (pdf) have insurance cover.
Achieving universal healthcare is a specific target in the sustainable development goals, a blueprint for development for the next 15 years that was adopted by UN member states in September. However, for millions of people like Musisi, economic and social inequalities are fundamental threats to health that must be tackled as well.
Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London and winner of the Prince Mahidol award in public health last year, researches social and economic disadvantages and how they create health inequalities between and within countries.
He says: “Inequality brings with it other social evils like ill health and crime. It damages health. Absolute inequality means disempowerment of a severe kind and not being able to afford food and shelter. Our response to this inequality in health is working towards universal health coverage.
“Why treat people and send them back to the same conditions that made them sick? We need action on the social determinants of ill health.”
Last September, 267 leading economists signed a declaration calling for universal healthcare as an essential pillar of development.
For Marmot, this is just one part of the puzzle. Conditions for good health must also exist at home. “Increasingly, the lower you are in the social hierarchy, the [more the] health of the poor suffers,” he says.
His words find a ready echo among some health professionals in Uganda.
“Addressing conditions at home is the way to go,” says Dr Julius Bamwine, health officer for the western district of Ibanda. “We still need [working] health facilities. But a sizeable public budget should go into prevention. People must know that drinking contaminated water makes them sick.”
Robinah Kaitiritimba, director of the Uganda National Health Consumers’ Organisation, says primary healthcare should be the main focus.
“Even when we don’t have a lot of money, we can use information [and] education to tell people how to avoid some diseases. Prevention is the best and cheapest,” she says. “At least 70% of hospital admissions in Uganda are related to malaria but if people slept under treated mosquito nets, these would be drastically cut.”
Others argue that a functioning, affordable health system is just as crucial as improving conditions at home.
For Musisi, improving living conditions is a critical first step. “If government can help us and build for us better houses, it would be the start of a new life for me. You can see the life we live here.” Thanks for reading.
When will the UN be held to account for failing to protect civilians?
This month, the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights revealed the massive scale of abuse against civilians in South Sudan last year. Its report is unflinching in describing rape, killing and torture – all part of what it calls a “scorched earth policy” against civilians by government forces. Quite rightly, it suggests mechanisms that should be instigated to hold perpetrators of these crimes to account. However, the report fails to raise questions about the UN’s own accountability in situations such as these.
The UN mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) is made up of 12,500 peacekeepers under a Chapter VII mandate to protect civilians. As part of this mandate, Unmiss peacekeepers are supposed to “address violence against women and girls as a tool of warfare”, among other requirements to protect civilians under threat of physical violence.
While the UN provides shelter to about 200,000 people in their protection of civilians (POC) sites, the recent report is surely testament to the failure, at least in part, of this mandate, cataloguing horrific abuses against thousands of civilians.
This report comes as Unmiss is already investigating fighting and deaths that took place in their Malakal POC base in February, and follows claims by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) of a “complete and utter protection failure” in Unity state.
In both incidents, Unmiss is accused of failing to react to what is described as systematic targeting of civilians. In a letter to the Guardian rebutting the MSF allegations, the UN special representative and head of Unmiss, Ellen Margrethe Løj, explained the trying circumstances and undoubted challenges that the UN – and all humanitarian operators – face in South Sudan.
However, that is the job and that is the purpose of peacekeeping operations, so at what point is a mission aimed at protecting civilians classified as a failure?
The key missing element here is the lack of a culture of accountability. The UN is grappling with its internal mechanisms for holding peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse to account. Last week, a UN security council resolution committed its members to do just that.
In Central African Republic (CAR), allegations of sexual abuse by French and UN troops continue to be made, with the UN high commissioner on human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, blaming a culture of impunity for the proliferation of cases.
Indeed in CAR it was the whistleblower, Anders Kompass, who faced an investigation (and subsequent exoneration) while no one has been arrested in connection with the abuse allegations themselves.
Allegations such as these are not new, and similar claims have been made of various peacekeeping missions over the past 20 years. Therefore whether the new resolution goes beyond platitudes to taking demonstrable action against individuals who commit sexual abuses − as well as against member states that fail to prosecute their peacekeeping troops − will be a further indication of the UN’s ability to hold itself to account credibly.
As an unelected yet influential body, the UN has always been in danger of lacking legitimacy with those it is meant to serve. Member states must drive processes of accountability, yet they will also be the ones who are found to be culpable in some cases. Therein lies the problem.
It should be a priority for the UN and its member states to develop and instigate robust accountability measures, which can serve both to vindicate and challenge their actions and programmes as required. Rather than appearing to evade accountability in a smokescreen of bureaucracy and fragmented responsibility, the UN needs to find a way to address either failures by its own senior personnel to do their job effectively or − a more likely but concerning reality − serious systematic failures within the UN’s approach to peacekeeping.
If peacekeeping operations and the budget continue to grow, as they did last year, then the need for more exacting accountability mechanisms becomes ever more acute.
Peacekeepers have an important role to play and this month’s report on South Sudan serves as a sad reminder of the importance of ensuring that these operations fulfil their Chapter VII mandates.
Government forces and warring factions who have committed these terrible crimes must be held to account, but there is also a need to examine the prevailing conditions under which the crimes were allowed to happen.
Without accountability the UN will lose legitimacy, peacekeeping operations will not learn from previous failures and the vicious cycle that impunity facilitates will continue. Thanks for reading.
