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Después de diez años del secuestro de las niñas de Chibok, el gobierno nigeriano debe por fin proteger a las comunidades vulnerables

Posted on 22/04/2024 by cswpress in español, Nigeria ES, Sub-Saharan Africa ES

El mes pasado, 137 familias de Kuriga, en el estado de Kaduna, Nigeria, dieron un suspiro colectivo de alivio cuando sus hijos e hijas regresaron a casa después de más de dos semanas de cautiverio terrorista.

Los niños fueron secuestrados en su escuela el 7 de marzo, cuando asaltantes armados invadieron el plantel justo cuando las clases estaban a punto de comenzar. La escuela informó que se llevaron a 287 estudiantes; sin embargo, el gobernador del estado de Kaduna, Uba Sani, ha intentado desde entonces descartar la cifra como “producto de la imaginación de alguien”, a pesar de que inicialmente él mismo citó la misma cifra.

De esto surgen algunas preguntas: ¿qué se está haciendo para confirmar que todos los estudiantes han sido efectivamente liberados? ¿Qué pasa con los miles de personas que han sido secuestradas por grupos terroristas en los últimos años? Y, por último, ¿cómo es posible que esto siga sucediendo una década después de que los secuestros masivos en Nigeria aparecieran por primera vez en la agenda internacional?

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Un año mas de conflicto en Sudán: la comunidad internacional debe actuar ahora

Posted on 19/04/2024 by cswpress in español, Sub-Saharan Africa ES, Sudan ES

Esta semana se cumple un año desde que estalló la guerra entre las Fuerzas Armadas Sudanesas (SAF) y las Fuerzas de Apoyo Rápido (RSF), en la culminación de las tensiones y reclamos que han existido entre los dos grupos desde que despojaron del poder al gobierno de transición en octubre de 2021.

Lo inusual de esta guerra es que comenzó en la capital, Jartum, y se extendió por todo el país. Desde que Sudán obtuvo su independencia en 1956, los conflictos e incluso las revoluciones se han originado fuera de la capital, lo que a menudo ha llevado al aislamiento de las comunidades del centro, y posiblemente del norte de Sudán, de las peores ramificaciones de la inestabilidad. Hoy, sin embargo, son pocos los lugares del país que se han librado de las hostilidades a gran escala entre ambos grupos, y su impacto sobre la población civil ha sido catastrófico.

Cuando el conflicto entró en su segundo año, ya había cobrado la vida de al menos 13,000 personas y más de 33,000 habían resultado heridas. Con la intensificación de la guerra en las ciudades pobladas, el número de desplazados internos ha aumentado a más de nueve millones, y se calcula que el número de quienes padecen hambre asciende ahora a 20 millones. Además, hay más de dos millones de refugiados, la mitad de ellos darfuríes, que también padecen hambre. Trágicamente, por segunda vez en 20 años también hay informes de crímenes atroces, y el Fiscal de la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) señaló que la situación ahora en Darfur era peor que cuando el Consejo de Seguridad remitió a Sudán a la corte.

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A criminal shouldn’t benefit from his/her criminal activities

Posted on 17/04/2024 by cswpress in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

This article was originally published on the CSW-Nigeria website.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN) came across an article written by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) titled: Nigeria’s Chibok Girls: Parent of Kidnapped Children Heartbroken – Again, dated 1st April, 2024. There was also an Arise News programme on April 3rd, 2024, on the morning show, titled: Freed Chibok Girls Wed Captors in Borno. The Arise news program dwells on the BBC article but expands it with more insight.

What the two media outlets were saying is that some of the freed/rescued Chibok secondary school girls, abducted on April 14, 2014, by Boko Haram, have chosen to remain with their de-radicalized, former insurgent husbands at an accommodation provided by the Borno State government under its de-radicalisation program.

The BBC article added that seven of such girls are staying in the government-provided accommodation with their de-radicalised insurgent husbands, while other girls are engaged to former fighters they met at the de-radicalisation camp.

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Ten years since the abduction of the Chibok Girls, the Nigerian government must finally protect vulnerable communities

Posted on 15/04/2024 by cswpress in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

Last month, 137 families in Kuriga in Nigeria’s Kaduna State breathed a collective sigh of relief as their sons and daughters returned home after over two weeks in terrorist captivity.

The children were abducted from their school on 7 March when armed assailants descended on the premises just as classes were about to commence. The school reported that 287 students were taken; however Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has since attempted to dismiss the figure as being a ‘figment of someone’s imagination’, despite initially citing the same number himself.

Several questions emerge from this: what is being done to confirm that all of the students have indeed been freed? What about the thousands of other individuals who have been abducted by terrorist groups in recent years? And finally, how can this still be happening a decade after mass kidnappings in Nigeria first landed on the international agenda?

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A year of conflict in Sudan – the international community must act now

Posted on 11/04/202418/04/2024 by cswpress in Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan

This week marks one year since war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the culmination of tensions and contradictions that have existed between the two groups since they seized power from the transitional government in October 2021.

What has been unusual about this war is that it started in the capital, Khartoum, and spread throughout the country. Since Sudan gained independence in 1956, conflicts and even revolutions have originated outside of the capital, which has often led to the insulation of communities in the centre, and arguably the north, of Sudan from the worst ramifications of the instability. Today however, few places in the country have been spared the large-scale hostilities between the two groups, and its impact on civilians has been catastrophic.

As the conflict enters its second year, it has claimed the lives of at least 13,000 people, and more than 33,000 have been injured. With the war intensifying in populated cities, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen to more than nine million, and the number of those facing hunger is now estimated to be as high as 20 million. In addition, there are over two million refugees, half of them Darfuri, also facing hunger. Tragically, for the second time in 20 years, there are also credible reports of atrocity crimes, with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) noting that the situation now in Darfur is worse than when the Security Council referred Sudan to the court.

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