Nearly seven million people are currently displaced in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where renewed conflict with rebels from the March 23rd Movement (M23) is raging – a record high even in a country that has suffered decades of violence. The grim announcement by the International Organization for Migration comes ahead of the […]
In late February 1990, 16 days after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela descended the steps of a plane in Lusaka, Zambia, which was home to the African National Congress’s exiled leadership at the time. A who’s who of leaders sympathetic to the ANC cause – from Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe – […]
Names marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect identities. Valleta, Malta – Amit* cruised through the lanes of Marsaxlokk, a colourful Maltese fishing hamlet, on his way to pick up two passengers in his taxi. “I love my job in this country,” he said. “Malta was my entry to Europe.” Amit arrived this […]
Sfax, Tunisia – On the outskirts of Tunisia’s second-largest city and the destination point for thousands of sub-Saharan African refugees hoping to get to Europe, 15-year-old Osman Bah from Guinea points to his sleeping quarters. The spot is hard to make out among the grey sand and plastic bags scattered across the wasteland, but it […]
Hundreds of trucks carrying aid for Gaza were lined up in a long queue at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing. Drivers and volunteers, many of them waiting for more than a week at the border, were having their lunches on carpets next to the trucks in the evening sunlight on Thursday. A […]
Baqaa, Jordan – Rain pours down in torrents on Jordan’s Baqa’a camp, turning the streets into rivers. The November storm’s harsh winds rattle the tin doors of thousands of homes in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the country. But despite the heavy downpour and bone-chilling cold outside, it is warm inside the Nashwan family’s […]
Blantyre, Malawi – The departure of hundreds of Malawians to Israel to work as farm labourers has sparked a debate within the Southern African country, which is looking to raise much-needed foreign currency amid a cash crunch. On November 25, the first tranche of 221 workers left for Israel. Subsequent flights are expected in the […]
ESSAY My daughter asks me if the war is on again. I tell her it never stopped. Our lives, dreams and hopes don’t matter to the world. Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip — After a week-long temporary truce, the Israeli air strikes have unfortunately resumed. The past seven days of relative calm have come to an […]
On November 24, more than two years after Taliban fighters drove into Kabul to reclaim control over Afghanistan, a key, lasting outpost of the government they had overthrown shut down 1,000km (600 miles) away, in the Indian capital of New Delhi. Afghanistan’s diplomatic mission in India, led by former ambassador Farid Mamundzay, announced the permanent […]
For more than a month, protests against Central America’s largest open-pit copper mine have held Panama in a state of siege. Roadblocks have caused gas and propane shortages. Many supermarket shelves have run bare. Restaurants and hotels have sat empty. But on Tuesday, protesters in Panama got the news they were waiting for. The country’s […]