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Hindustan Times
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Refugees in Africa Fight Over Food as U.S. Aid Cuts Take Hold
With the Trump administration gutting American humanitarian aid to Africa, refugees from war-torn countries have been reduced to literally fighting each other over the scraps of food that remain. At Uganda's sprawling Kiryandongo refugee settlement, residents who had fled South Sudan attacked the mud-and-tarpaulin shelters of new arrivals from Sudan, stealing food, killing one and injuring almost 100, according to doctors and witnesses. Raiders hit Makkal Abdul Aziz's hut at dinnertime, stealing the porridge and bread she was feeding her six children, the one meal a day they thought they could count on receiving. During a four-day rampage last month, hundreds of South Sudanese refugees, armed with machetes and sticks, stormed a large, separate compound housing Sudanese newcomers. 'It was so terrifying—I did not think we would survive,' Aziz, 35 years old, told The Wall Street Journal. Makkal Abdul Aziz, a widow, feared for her children's safety when raiders struck and stole food. Until President Trump took a chain saw to U.S. foreign-assistance programs earlier this year, American funding accounted for 60% of U.N. World Food Program relief efforts in Uganda and, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 40% of the global humanitarian aid budget. In May, the U.N. food agency ended food distribution to one million refugees in the East African country due to funding shortfalls, largely from U.S. cuts. The U.N. Refugee Agency said last week it expects to run out of emergency funds for Uganda next month. At that point it will be able to provide only $5 a month in blankets, sanitary pads, soap and other essentials to each refugee—about a third of what's required, according to the agency. 'More children will die of malnutrition, more girls will fall victim to sexual violence, and families will be left without shelter or protection unless the world steps up,' predicted Dominique Hyde, the agency's spokeswoman. A State Department spokesman said that in July the U.S. sent food aid worth $30 million to the WFP to distribute to vulnerable people in Uganda but added that America's future humanitarian assistance to Africa would be 'short-term, and targeted,' to save lives. 'The United States continues to be the most generous nation in the world, having shouldered more than our share of the global humanitarian burden for too long, and we urge other nations to increase their humanitarian efforts and help share the burden,' he said. The impact of the cuts are rippling across the continent. Chad, which hosts some 1.2 million Sudanese refugees, is facing a funding gap of nearly $280 million this year, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. Refugees in the southern African nation of Malawi have been on half-rations since the month after Trump took office earlier this year and began closing down American aid programs. Uganda welcomes more refugees than any other African country, according to the U.N., with more than 1.9 million scattered across 13 settlements. In camps near the border with Congo, refugees roam neighboring villages to scrounge for food, often clashing with locals who aren't much better off than the refugees, according to local humanitarian officials. 'These refugees do not have much of an option,' said Simon Denhere, the U.N. food agency's Malawi country director. 'They cannot go out of the camp to look for work or other livelihoods. It is a scary thought.' The sole hospital in Kiryandongo, which has no operating theater, treated nearly 100 injured people from refugee-on-refugee attacks, according to doctors. Last month, 50-year-old Abdallah Adam Ishag, who was being treated for depression at a hospital outside the camp, hanged himself, according to Ugandan police. Many other attack victims are stuck at hospitals outside of the settlement that won't discharge them until they pay their medical bills, according to a local volunteer group, Sudan Popular Support Initiative Uganda. A volunteer worker broke down in tears at a medical center in Kampala, Uganda. A bloodstain from a teacher who was attacked at Kiryandongo refugee camp. The U.S. government traditionally funneled foreign aid through U.N. agencies and private and religious charities. 'All the charities that used to help these people have disappeared,' said Dr. Assad Ibrahim, director of Kampala's Al Salam International Medical Center. In total, African nations host 46 million forcibly displaced people—more than a third of the world's total—including nine million refugees, defined as those forced to flee to another country, according to the Institute for Security Studies. Kiryandongo, which sits close to the White Nile River, is a web of ramshackle huts connected with dirt footpaths and now houses more than 100,000 refugees. Sudan and South Sudan, once united as Sudan, have a long history of enmity. The mostly Christian and animist south fought for decades to break away from the largely Muslim north, finally winning independence in 2011. Aziz fled Sudan with her children in 2023, after her husband was killed by the Rapid Support Forces, a rebel group that has been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Khartoum government for more than two years. Uganda normally allocates newly arrived refugees a quarter-acre patch of land for mud-and-wattle houses and small gardens. In Kiryandongo, refugees—most from South Sudan—have for years used the plots to grow vegetables, supplementing aid supplies. Now food donations have dried up at the same time camp authorities have given their gardens to new arrivals from Sudan—fresh deprivation aggravating longstanding animosity. 'Refugees here are so nervous about sharing limited resources with new arrivals,' said Ronald Onen, a South Sudanese leader in the settlement. Ronald Onen, a South Sudanese community leader, at Kiryandongo refugee camp. His mother, uncle and grandmother are buried there. Ugandan police at the gates of Kiryandongo refugee camp. Rumors are spreading of another incoming wave of Sudanese refugees, according to Onen, a father of six, who was told in April that he no longer qualifies for U.N. food rations. In July, after stealing the Aziz family's dinner, the raiders tore down her shelter, as well as dozens of others built on plots previously allocated to South Sudanese refugees. Aziz moved to get her children—ranging from one to 17 years old—to safety. Pandemonium from nearby huts drowned out her children's cries, she said. A neighbor warned her South Sudanese youths scrounging for food were sacking the area housing Sudanese refugees. Invaders beat Kabashi Idris Kafi to death with sticks as the 65-year-old Sudanese camp leader fought to protect a community kitchen, according to neighbors and charity workers. Aziz eventually found shelter in a tent being used as a makeshift camp mosque. The family has to vacate the tent five times a day to allow worshipers to hold prayers. The clashes lasted four days, and Ugandan troops are enforcing a dawn-to-dusk curfew to keep the two refugee populations apart. Write to Nicholas Bariyo at and Alexandra Wexler at Refugees in Africa Fight Over Food as U.S. Aid Cuts Take Hold Refugees in Africa Fight Over Food as U.S. Aid Cuts Take Hold Refugees in Africa Fight Over Food as U.S. Aid Cuts Take Hold
Mint
a day ago
- Politics
- Mint
Refugees in Africa fight over food as US aid cuts take hold
With the Trump administration gutting American humanitarian aid to Africa, refugees from war-torn countries have been reduced to literally fighting each other over the scraps of food that remain. At Uganda's sprawling Kiryandongo refugee settlement, residents who had fled South Sudan attacked the mud-and-tarpaulin shelters of new arrivals from Sudan, stealing food, killing one and injuring almost 100, according to doctors and witnesses. Raiders hit Makkal Abdul Aziz's hut at dinnertime, stealing the porridge and bread she was feeding her six children, the one meal a day they thought they could count on receiving. During a four-day rampage last month, hundreds of South Sudanese refugees, armed with machetes and sticks, stormed a large, separate compound housing Sudanese newcomers. 'It was so terrifying—I did not think we would survive," Aziz, 35 years old, told The Wall Street Journal. Makkal Abdul Aziz, a widow, feared for her children's safety when raiders struck and stole food. Until President Trump took a chain saw to U.S. foreign-assistance programs earlier this year, American funding accounted for 60% of U.N. World Food Program relief efforts in Uganda and, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 40% of the global humanitarian aid budget. In May, the U.N. food agency ended food distribution to one million refugees in the East African country due to funding shortfalls, largely from U.S. cuts. The U.N. Refugee Agency said last week it expects to run out of emergency funds for Uganda next month. At that point it will be able to provide only $5 a month in blankets, sanitary pads, soap and other essentials to each refugee—about a third of what's required, according to the agency. 'More children will die of malnutrition, more girls will fall victim to sexual violence, and families will be left without shelter or protection unless the world steps up," predicted Dominique Hyde, the agency's spokeswoman. A State Department spokesman said that in July the U.S. sent food aid worth $30 million to the WFP to distribute to vulnerable people in Uganda but added that America's future humanitarian assistance to Africa would be 'short-term, and targeted," to save lives. 'The United States continues to be the most generous nation in the world, having shouldered more than our share of the global humanitarian burden for too long, and we urge other nations to increase their humanitarian efforts and help share the burden," he said. The impact of the cuts are rippling across the continent. Chad, which hosts some 1.2 million Sudanese refugees, is facing a funding gap of nearly $280 million this year, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. Refugees in the southern African nation of Malawi have been on half-rations since the month after Trump took office earlier this year and began closing down American aid programs. Uganda welcomes more refugees than any other African country, according to the U.N., with more than 1.9 million scattered across 13 settlements. In camps near the border with Congo, refugees roam neighboring villages to scrounge for food, often clashing with locals who aren't much better off than the refugees, according to local humanitarian officials. 'These refugees do not have much of an option," said Simon Denhere, the U.N. food agency's Malawi country director. 'They cannot go out of the camp to look for work or other livelihoods. It is a scary thought." The sole hospital in Kiryandongo, which has no operating theater, treated nearly 100 injured people from refugee-on-refugee attacks, according to doctors. Last month, 50-year-old Abdallah Adam Ishag, who was being treated for depression at a hospital outside the camp, hanged himself, according to Ugandan police. Many other attack victims are stuck at hospitals outside of the settlement that won't discharge them until they pay their medical bills, according to a local volunteer group, Sudan Popular Support Initiative Uganda. A volunteer worker broke down in tears at a medical center in Kampala, Uganda.A bloodstain from a teacher who was attacked at Kiryandongo refugee camp. The U.S. government traditionally funneled foreign aid through U.N. agencies and private and religious charities. 'All the charities that used to help these people have disappeared," said Dr. Assad Ibrahim, director of Kampala's Al Salam International Medical Center. In total, African nations host 46 million forcibly displaced people—more than a third of the world's total—including nine million refugees, defined as those forced to flee to another country, according to the Institute for Security Studies. Kiryandongo, which sits close to the White Nile River, is a web of ramshackle huts connected with dirt footpaths and now houses more than 100,000 refugees. Sudan and South Sudan, once united as Sudan, have a long history of enmity. The mostly Christian and animist south fought for decades to break away from the largely Muslim north, finally winning independence in 2011. Aziz fled Sudan with her children in 2023, after her husband was killed by the Rapid Support Forces, a rebel group that has been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Khartoum government for more than two years. Uganda normally allocates newly arrived refugees a quarter-acre patch of land for mud-and-wattle houses and small gardens. In Kiryandongo, refugees—most from South Sudan—have for years used the plots to grow vegetables, supplementing aid supplies. Now food donations have dried up at the same time camp authorities have given their gardens to new arrivals from Sudan—fresh deprivation aggravating longstanding animosity. 'Refugees here are so nervous about sharing limited resources with new arrivals," said Ronald Onen, a South Sudanese leader in the settlement. Ronald Onen, a South Sudanese community leader, at Kiryandongo refugee camp. His mother, uncle and grandmother are buried police at the gates of Kiryandongo refugee camp. Rumors are spreading of another incoming wave of Sudanese refugees, according to Onen, a father of six, who was told in April that he no longer qualifies for U.N. food rations. In July, after stealing the Aziz family's dinner, the raiders tore down her shelter, as well as dozens of others built on plots previously allocated to South Sudanese refugees. Aziz moved to get her children—ranging from one to 17 years old—to safety. Pandemonium from nearby huts drowned out her children's cries, she said. A neighbor warned her South Sudanese youths scrounging for food were sacking the area housing Sudanese refugees. Invaders beat Kabashi Idris Kafi to death with sticks as the 65-year-old Sudanese camp leader fought to protect a community kitchen, according to neighbors and charity workers. Aziz eventually found shelter in a tent being used as a makeshift camp mosque. The family has to vacate the tent five times a day to allow worshipers to hold prayers. The clashes lasted four days, and Ugandan troops are enforcing a dawn-to-dusk curfew to keep the two refugee populations apart. Write to Nicholas Bariyo at and Alexandra Wexler at
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
54 migrants rescued from oil platform, where one woman gave birth
Over 50 migrants were headed to the Italian island of Lampedusa Sunday after a charity ship rescued them from an abandoned oil platform in the Mediterranean, where one woman gave birth, according to a rescue group. The vessel Astral, operated by the Spain-based NGO Open Arms, rescued the 54 people overnight, the group said in a statement. The migrants had been trapped on the oil platform for three days after their rubber boat shipwrecked following their departure from Libya on Tuesday, Open Arms said. On Friday, one of the migrants gave birth to a boy, while another woman had given birth days before. Two other young children were among the group, Open Arms said. The group released images on social media, showing rescuers helping transfer the migrants from the oil platform to the Astral. Later Sunday, the charity said that, following the rescue of those on the oil platform, the Astral came upon another 109 people, including four people in the water. That group, which included 10 children, had also departed from Libya, it said. Open Arms said they provided life jackets to the migrants before they were rescued by another charity ship, the Louise Michel, which is sponsored by street artist Banksy. The Louise Michel, a former French navy vessel, was transporting the migrants from Lampedusa to a safe port in Sicily, Open Arms said. The Italian island has been the sight of migrant tragedies before. In December, more than 40 migrants were feared dead off Lampedusa after a lone 11-year-old survivor said the boat she was on capsized, according to the rescue group Compass Collective. It is not unusual for migrants crossing the Mediterranean on leaky and overcrowded boats to seek refuge on offshore oil platforms. As of June 1, some 23,000 migrants had reached Italy by sea this year, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Earlier this year, Spanish coastguards rescued a baby that was born on an inflatable vessel carrying migrants to the Canary Islands. The newborn was recovered safely along with their mother on Monday, the coastguard service said in a message on social media. Kristi Noem says "we are not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen" amid L.A. crackdown Magic in the dark: The fantastical worlds of Lightwire Theater Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner in epic comeback to win French Open
Chicago Tribune
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Panama to allow 112 migrants deported from the US to move about freely in the country
PANAMA CITY — Panama announced Friday that it will allow 112 migrants deported from the United States who have been held in a remote camp in the Darien region since last month to move about the country freely until they decide on their next course of action. Panama's Security Minister Frank Ábrego said the migrants — from a number of mostly Asian nations — would be granted temporary humanitarian passes as documents. They would find their own places to stay while they decide where they are going next, Ábrego said, without elaborating. The passes would last for an initial 30 days but could be renewed, he added. 'They have exactly 30 days to figure out how to leave Panama, because they refused … to accept help from the (International Organization for Migration) and (the U.N. Refugee Agency) and said that they wanted to do it themselves,' Ábrego said, speaking to reporters outside a security conference Friday. 'Panama has decided to respect this,' he also said. Panama has come under pressure from human rights groups for holding the migrants without their passports or cell phones in harsh conditions. Lawyers had petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on their behalf. Most of the migrants had been moved to the camp in San Vicente on Feb. 19, from a hotel in Panama City where they had initially been held under police guard. Migrants who agreed to voluntarily return to their countries remained at the hotel and those who didn't were sent to the camp in the Darien. The camp had originally been established for the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama in recent years as they made their way toward the U.S. border. However, President Donald Trump shut down access to asylum and other legal routes at the U.S. southern border in January, forcing many migrants already in transit to reconsider their options. Panama and Costa Rica have reported seeing a reverse flow of migration in recent weeks as migrants begin moving south. The U.S. had sent 299 migrants to Panama as the Trump administration tried to accelerate deportations as part of a deal in which countries like Panama and Costa Rica act as 'bridges,' temporarily detaining deportees while they await return to their countries of origin or third countries. Some of the migrants held in the hotel had held up handmade signs in their windows, asking for help. At the camp, a migrant who had a hidden cell phone had told an Associated Press reporter that they were sweltering, fighting ants and receiving no information about what would happen with them next. Originally Published: March 7, 2025 at 12:29 PM CST
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Panama and Costa Rica turning into a ‘black hole' for migrants and deportees from U.S., observers warn
MIRAMAR, Panama — Officials in Costa Rica and Panama are confiscating migrants' passports and cellphones, denying them access to legal services and moving them between remote outposts as they wrestle with the logistics of a suddenly reversed migration flow. The restrictions and lack of transparency are drawing criticism from human rights observers and generating increasingly testy responses from officials, who say their actions are aimed at protecting the migrants from human traffickers. Both countries have received hundreds of deportees from various nations sent by the United States as President Trump's administration tries to accelerate deportations. At the same time, thousands of migrants shut out of the U.S. have started moving south through Central America — Panama recorded 2,200 so far in February. 'We're a reflection of current United States immigration policy,' said Harold Villegas-Román, a political science professor and refugee expert at the University of Costa Rica. 'There is no focus on human rights, there is only focus on control and security. Everything is very murky, and not transparent.' Earlier this month, the U.S. sent 299 deportees from mostly Asian countries to Panama. Those who were willing to return to their countries — about 150 to date — were put on planes with the assistance of United Nations agencies and paid for by the U.S. Carlos Ruiz-Hernandez, Panama's deputy foreign minister, said Thursday a small number are in contact with international organizations and the U.N. Refugee Agency as they weigh whether to seek asylum in Panama. 'None of them wants to stay in Panama. They want to go to the U.S.,' he said in a phone interview from Washington. 'We cannot give them green cards, but we can get them back home and for a short period of time provide them with medical and psychological support as well as housing.' Despite Trump's threats to retake control of the Panama Canal, he said Panama had not acted under U.S. pressure. 'This is in Panama's national interest. We are a friend of the U.S. and want to work with them to send a signal of deterrence.' Ruiz-Hernandez said some of the deportees remaining in Panama would be given the option of staying at a shelter originally set up to handle the large number of migrants moving north through the Darien Gap. One Chinese deportee currently detained in the camp, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid repercussions, said she wasn't given a choice. She was deported to Panama without knowing where they were being sent, without signing deportation documents in the U.S. and without clarity of how long they would be there. She was among the deportees who were moved from a Panama City hotel — where some held up signs to their windows asking for help — to a remote camp in the Darien region. Speaking to the AP over messages on a cellphone she kept hidden, she said authorities confiscated others' phones and offered them no legal assistance. Others have said they've been unable to contact their lawyers. 'This deprived us of our legal process,' she said. Panama President José Raúl Mulino, asked about the lack of access to legal services on Thursday, questioned the idea that migrants would even have lawyers. 'Doesn't it seem like a coincidence that those poor people have lawyers in Panama?' Mulino said. Costa Rica and Panama have so far denied press access to facilities where they are holding migrants. Panama had initially invited journalists to the Darien this week, but ultimately canceled the visit. 'Panama cannot end up becoming a black hole for deported migrants,' said Juan Pappier, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Americas. 'Migrants have the right to communicate with their families, to seek lawyers and Panama must guarantee transparency about the situation in which they find themselves.' Costa Rica has faced similar criticisms from the country's independent human rights entity, which has raised alarm over 'failures' by authorities to guarantee proper conditions for deportees arriving. The ombudsman's office said that migrants were also stripped of their passports and other documents, and were not informed about what was happening or where they were going. Panama and Costa Rica, long transit countries for people migrating north, have scrambled to address the new flow of migrants going south and organize the flow. Kimberlyn Pereira, a 27-year-old Venezuelan traveling with her husband and 4-year-old son, was among them. Pereira had waited months for an asylum appointment in Mexico after crossing the perilous Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama and traveling up through Central America. But after Trump took office and closed legal pathways to the U.S., she gave up and decided to go home, despite Venezuela's ongoing crises. But after a week of being held in a Costa Rican detention facility near the Panamanian border she expressed 'hopelessness.' Officials there had told them they would be flown to Cúcuta, a Colombian city near the Venezuelan border. But they were loaded onto buses and driven to this Panamanian port on the Caribbean Sea. 'We do feel a little more protected. They've given us food. My only concern is the confusion. This 'Come here, now go over there, get in this,' ' she said. While she and other migrants spoke to an AP journalist in a public place, Panamanian immigration authorities grew visibly upset and loaded nearly 200 migrants back on buses to drive them to a nearby building. When journalists attempted to follow them, immigration officials temporarily stopped on the side of the road in an attempt to keep them from following. Panamanian authorities declined to comment on the incident, but after voicing press freedom concerns, the journalists were allowed to catch up to the migrants. Before dawn Thursday, Pereira and other migrants boarded wooden boats that carried them to near the Colombia-Panama border where they planned to continue their journey. They paid up to $200 each for the ride. 'I don't understand why they chase off journalists, why we're so isolated if the government is supposedly helping,' she said. Janetsky, Delacroix and Goodman write for the Associated Press. Janetsky reported from Mexico City, Goodman from Miami, Delacroix from Miramar.
