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Thousands left homeless as fire ravages refugee camp
Within two hours the flames destroyed 1,200 shelters in one of the world’s biggest settlements
A massive fire has devastated a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, leaving thousands of people homeless, police have said.
“About 1,200 houses were burnt in the fire,” a spokesman for the Armed Police Battalion, Kamran Hossain, told AFP on Sunday.
The fire started at 4.40pm local time and was brought under control at around 6.30pm, the law enforcement officer said – but the two hours was enough to leave more than 5,000 people homeless as most of the shelters were made of bamboo and tarpaulin, highly flammable materials.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Bangladesh said that, after receiving news of a “sudden fire” at Camp 16 in the Cox's Bazar border district, it “immediately deployed teams,” including medics, to protect the refugees. The cause of the fire is yet to be established.
It is not the first time that fires have ripped through camps housing the minority Muslim ethnic group, many of whom escaped neighboring Myanmar to avoid persecution in the wake of the 2017 military crackdown, which left some 10,000 Rohingya dead, according to Doctors Without Borders.
Rohingya are predominantly Muslim and the rest of Myanmar (Burma) is almost entirely Buddhist. Buddhists see the Muslims as a threat to their religion and their country - hence, the hostility. As Islam spreads across Africa and Europe, this dynamic will come more and more into play.
In March last year, another fire claimed the lives of 15 refugees and left 50,000 homeless in Bangladesh border camps which house around 850,000 people and are considered to be one of the largest refugee settlements in the world.
Death Toll Surpass 200 in Attacks in Nigeria's North
January 09, 2022 11:07 AM
Timothy Obiezu, VoM
ABUJA —
Nigerian authorities on Sunday said the death toll from attacks by armed groups in northwest Zamfara State this past week has risen to more than 200. The attacks which began Tuesday lasted until Thursday across nine villages. Authorities say many more villagers remain unaccounted for.
Zamfara state residents say the attacks were retaliation for last week’s military raid against the bandits.
Military airstrikes last Monday around the armed men’s hideout in the Gusami forest hideout as well as in Tamre village in Zamfara reportedly killed more than 100 bandits, including two of their leaders.
Large numbers of angry motorcycle-riding bandits hit back at local communities in reprisal for days, shooting people on sight and burning down houses.
State authorities initially said 58 people were killed but authorities on Saturday said more than 200 bodies were buried and scores of other people were missing.
FILE - Women and children who were kidnapped in the northwestern state of Zamfara, sit after being rescued
by the Nigerian security agents in Zamfara, Nigeria, October 7, 2021.
Last week's attacks are among the deadliest seen in the region in years. Authorities say up to 10,000 people were displaced and too afraid to return to their homes.
On Saturday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement, “The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits is an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces.”
Security analyst Kabiru Adamu said security forces have been making progress and gives a reason.
"One of the key bandits by the name Bello Turji, wrote a letter last month where he indicated his willingness to [as it were] end what he's doing. The letter was very clear," said Adamu.
Zamfara state police spokesperson Shehu Mohammed said authorities were gathering intelligence on the attacks from the villages and victims and would aid future operations.
"The information we got will surely assist the security agencies in trying to record more successes in subsequent operations," he said.
Northwest and north-central Nigeria are recording spikes in attacks on communities, looting and mass kidnappings for ransom that began in late 2020.
The government has repeatedly promised to address the issue.
Zamfara State, Nigeria
Pakistani Christian man granted bail in blasphemy case
after 4 years in prison
By Ryan Foley,
Christian Post Reporter|
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
The brother of a Pakistani Christian man granted bail last week after spending years in prison is pleading with Pope Francis and other international leaders to evacuate and grant his brother asylum in a Western country as concerns about his health and safety persist.
Nadeem Samson, a Pakistani Christian imprisoned for blasphemy | Shakeel Anjum
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan granted bail for Nadeem Samson, a Catholic who has been imprisoned in Pakistan for four years on blasphemy charges. Samson’s brother, Shakeel Anjum, a United States citizen, reacted to the development in an interview with The Christian Post.
“[On the] one side, we are happy. But [on the] other side, we are very afraid,” he said, speaking on behalf of himself and another brother, who also lives in Pakistan.
Anjum cited the Jan. 3 death sentence of Zafar Bhatti, another Christian imprisoned under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, as a cause for concern.
While the Supreme Court of Pakistan granted Samson bail, the legal proceedings stemming from the blasphemy charges against him will continue at the district court level.
Anjum told CP that “trials are very dangerous” because “he has to … go to the court back and forth to attend the hearings.” He recalled a 2020 incident where a Muslim accused of blasphemy was “murdered right in the court,” fearing that his brother could end up facing the same fate.
“He was murdered right in the court,” Anjum said. “He was on bail and he got shot dead and somebody just killed him in the court.”
More recently, on Dec. 3, a Twitter account managed by Anjum devoted to securing his brother’s release retweeted a video of a Sri Lankan Hindu Factory manager who was “burned alive by #Muslims mob” for accused blasphemy. Anjum said these two incidents have left him and his brothers “really scared” and “really worried.”
In light of the concerns and the fact that “mob attacking is common in Pakistan,” Anjum delivered an appeal to the Pope and Josep Borrell, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs.
Mass hysteria is very common in Pakistan. Self-control is very uncommon!
If there was any doubt that Islam turns a country back to the Middle Ages, this story ought to remove such doubt.
Afghan public sector workers get paid in wheat
Cash-strapped Taliban extends ‘food for work’ program as hunger grips Afghanistan
The Taliban administration has announced it is expanding its ‘food for work’ scheme under which it pays thousands of public sector employees with wheat instead of cash.
Roughly 40,000 workers in Kabul have been receiving 10 kilograms of wheat per day for working five hours. Agriculture officials have said that the program will now be extended across the country.
“We are ready to help our people as much as we can,” said Fazel Bari Fazli, deputy minister of administration and finance at the Ministry of Agriculture, Reuters reports.
The Taliban has been largely using the wheat that was donated by India to the previous US-backed Afghan government. The new government also received 18 tonnes of wheat from Pakistan last year and is expecting to receive more. Negotiations are also underway with India over a delivery of 55 tonnes, said Fazli.
The United Arab Emirates and Iran are among the other nations that have provided Afghanistan with food and medical supplies. The UN estimates that more than half the population needs humanitarian aid, with nearly a quarter already on the brink of starvation, according to a recent World Food Program report.
Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis has deepened since the Taliban took power in August, after the withdrawal of the US troops from the country. Since then, sanctions have been placed on members of the Taliban, the Afghan central bank’s assets have been frozen, and most of the foreign aid that supported the economy has been suspended.
The UN asked international donors on Tuesday to provide $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid to the country this year, citing “unprecedented levels of need amongst ordinary women, men and children of Afghanistan.” The aid is meant to bypass the government in Kabul and to be mostly distributed by international organizations.
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