humanitarian

Oxfam is now providing emergency relief to over 36,000 civilians who have fled fighting between Sri Lankan troops and LTTE rebels in the past few days, amid fears for thousands more women, men and children trapped behind rebel lines.

Over 3.2 million Somalis are in desperate need of emergency assistance, a 77% increase since January 2008. More than one million people have fled their homes in the last two years.

International aid agency Oxfam GB said today that it has formally submitted its appeal against the Sudanese government’s decision to expel it from northern Sudan, and expressed serious concern at the false allegations that continue to be made against it and other expelled agencies.

Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees will face a humanitarian emergency this year, unless urgent steps are taken to deal with a serious public health crisis unfolding in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, international agency Oxfam warned in a new report issued today.

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is on a high-level European lobbying tour to highlight the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where civilians have experienced an upsurge of violence in recent months.

Civilians in Chad are still facing high levels of banditry and danger as the European force (EUFOR) hands over to a UN force later this week (Mar 15). Although the European troops made some civilians feel safer, the underlying security situation has not significantly improved.

Oxfam International's British affiliate - Oxfam GB - is appealing the Sudanese government's decision made on March 4 to revoke its registration to work in the north of the country.

Oxfam GB urged the Government of Sudan to allow it to continue its vital humanitarian efforts, affecting hundreds of thousands of lives.

The international aid agency, Oxfam, has cautiously welcomed steps in Zimbabwe to form a government of national unity. Now the new government must urgently address the combined humanitarian crisis of cholera epidemic and more than half the population being in need of food aid.

A coalition of 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations today called on John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to insist that protecting civilians be a top priority of the joint Congolese and Rwandan military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.