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Middle East Weekly Round-up for May 11 - May 17
BBSNews 2007-05-14 - Listed below are IRIN stories carried from the Middle East between May 11th and May 17th.
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| Children in Iraq.
Image Courtesy: © IRIN |
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For the image shown above in a larger size, please see: Children in Iraq. More BBSNews images are available in BBSNews Photos. |
IRAQ-SYRIA: UNHCR highlights Palestinian refugees' plight in desert camp: Hundreds of Palestinian refugees stranded at al-Waleed makeshift camp in no-man's land between the desert borders of Iraq and Syria are living in precarious conditions and people could die if they do not get medical treatment, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on 15 May.
IRAQ: UN-sponsored conference tackles country's water strategy: The Iraq office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has organised a three-day conference which ends today in Amman, Jordan, which establishes a water strategy in Iraq and will assist the government in developing its water management capacity.
In a statement on 15 May and emailed to IRIN, the UNDP said the principal aim of the conference was to highlight the major challenges facing the water sector and propose actions that include identifying a long-term strategy, strong coordination mechanisms and sound policies for water resource management.
IRAQ: Educational standards plummet, say specialists: Education specialists in Iraq say they are concerned that pupils and students in the current academic year will leave school without completing this year's curriculum, and new graduates will not be competent to pursue their careers.
"Violence and lack of resources have undermined the education sector in Iraq. No student will graduate this year with sufficient competence to perform his or her job, and pupils will end the year with less than 60 percent of the knowledge that was supposed to have been imparted to them," said Professor Fua'ad Abdel-Razak, an educationist at Baghdad University.
IRAQ: Child mortality soars because of violence, poor health care: A recent report by the US-based NGO Save the Children says that although Iraq's under-five mortality rate is in the middle range when compared to other developing countries, it has worsened faster than in any other country. Observers say the main reason for this is the continuing violence and lack of funds for the health sector.
"Never in Iraq's history have so many children died because of diseases and violence. The mortality rate among them has jumped to a level which will require years to be controlled," said Dr Jaffer Ali, a senior official and paediatrician in the Ministry of Health.
IRAQ: Thousands flee upsurge in violence in Diyala province: Thousands of Iraqis have been fleeing their homes in Diyala province over the past week after an increase in attacks by armed groups and a major offensive by US and Iraqi troops. Diyala province is a volatile but religiously mixed governorate to the northeast of Bagdhad.
"In the past six days more than 900 families, about 5,000 individuals, have fled Diyala governorate. Some of them were forced out by militants and others were scared of the clashes," said Faris Abdallah, media officer for Diyala governorate office.
IRAQ: Majdy Imad, 'I can't stand the life of an orphan anymore': Ten-year-old Majdy Imad says he cannot stand being an orphan anymore. After losing his parents and two sisters on 17 November, 2006 in sectarian killings, he was taken to an overcrowded, under-resourced Baghdad orphanage - a move that forced him to leave his school.
Majdy has only one relative; an uncle who lives outside Iraq. Majdy cries every time he remembers his family. Desperate for love and care, he told IRIN that sometimes he thinks it would have been better if he had been killed with his family rather than enduring the life he is leading now.
LEBANON: Environmentalists urge quicker clean-up as oil-spill again threatens sea: With the onset of summer, environmentalists are urging the government to speed up the country's oil spill clean up process as higher temperatures could liquify remaining oil and make the problem worse. Black slime coats beaches and oozes into rock pools in northern Lebanon, nine months after an oil spill led to international pledges to clean that stretch of coast.
LEBANON: Haven for foreign militants: Testimonies by self-confessed sectarian militants show they are using Lebanese territory for increasing numbers of deadly attacks which are threatening stability in the country and across the region. The wider security breakdown inside Lebanon is creating a fertile breeding ground for extremist groups, and the country is becoming a stop-off point for foreign jihadists, say experts.
OPT: Gaza violence hampering aid deliveries, say humanitarian workers: Humanitarian aid agencies are expressing concern as renewed intense Palestinian infighting between the Fatah and Hamas factions enters its fifth day, during which nearly as many ceasefires have been broken, and over 40 Palestinians killed.
Two Israeli air strikes on Thursday in central Gaza City have left at least three Palestinians dead, and injured 30 more, including civilians, as Israel steps up its retaliatory actions against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Another Israeli strike hit the northern Jabalya refugee camp, and Israeli tanks have entered the strip for the first such incursion in about six months.
OPT: Aid agencies dig in as Gaza erupts: Renewed infighting among rival Palestinian armed groups has put aid agencies on the alert for more bloodshed as well as threats to their staff in the troubled Gaza Strip. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes mainly between militias affiliated to the Hamas and Fatah political parties in the past 14 months.
SYRIA: Boost in fortunes for UNHCR operation near Damascus: In a quiet street in Douma, 25km from the centre of Damascus, a new refugee centre is taking shape. The former warehouse, taken over by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and still under construction, has become a haven for Iraqis seeking refugee status in Syria.
"Since January we've registered as many refugees as all of last year and we have the potential for 200,000 this year," Sybella Wilkes, spokesperson for the UNHCR in Damascus, told IRIN.
YEMEN: Food price rises could worsen plight of hungry children: Hundreds of Yemeni children, representatives of UN agencies and ambassadors on Sunday marched together in Sana'a to highlight child hunger in Yemen. However, recent food price hikes are raising concerns that the country's child hunger problems could get worse.
In the past two weeks food prices have risen sharply. The Ministry of Trade attributed the rise to international price rises. Yemen imports most of its basic food requirements, including 85 per cent of cereals.
YEMEN: Gov't changes anti-malaria strategy: Officials at the Ministry of Health's National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) said that a new strategy to fight malaria in the country would soon be launched in order to reduce costs. Rather than launching annual campaigns to combat the disease, the government will have permanent teams stationed in malaria-affected areas.
NMCP specialists will select some locals in each village and train them on combating malaria, so as to work together with them on a permanent basis.
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