Humanitarian agencies and their partners are working around the clock to provide basic services such as water, food and shelter to more than 140,000 people displaced by the recent violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Photo credit: UNHCR/F.Noy
The International Committee of the Red Cross has repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population and, in the recent weeks, falsely accused the Mujahideen (Shabaab fighters) of hindering food distribution.A statement from al-Shabaab • Discussing its decision to bar the Red Cross from the parts of Somalia it controls. That’s right: al-Shabaab is blocking humanitarian aid from being distributed over accusations by the Red Cross that they’re already blocking humanitarian aid from getting distributed. You can’t make this stuff up.
Wyclef Jean squandered Haitian relief funds: report
“Less than a third of the $16 million gathered in 2010 by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean for earthquake relief in Haiti actually made it to emergency efforts in the country, the New York Post reported on Sunday.
According to the exclusive report, Jean’s charity, Yele Haiti, doled out millions in questionable contracts — in fact, $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn’t seem to exist.”
This, uhh, isn’t good. ”Gone ‘Till November” still is, though, so let’s not forget that.
Wearing your support: Pretty neat idea hatched between the folks at UNICEF and Threadless — you can now throw down for one of these rather charmingly minimalist t-shirts, and your money goes straight to African aid efforts. As you may have noticed, some of these shirts are hyper-expensive (not pictured, a $300,000 “cargo plane” shirt), which is because the amount you pay equals the cost of the sort of aid effort pictured. It’s a very cool and worthy example of humanitarian relief meeting up with design. source
As Miss Angola I’ve already done a lot to help my people. I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs … I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.The new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes • Describing what she plans to do to help as the new Miss Universe. The current Miss Angola is a bit of a trailblazer as far as beauty pageant winners go — she’s one of the few black women to win the Miss Universe title, and she had harsh words for anyone that might have a problem with that: “Any racist needs to seek help.” Not that we’re particularly huge fans of Miss Anything pageants, but considering her social stances, we can totally get behind this winner. Africa has a huge HIV problem, and needs any help it can get. Now it has a high-profile ambassador. source (via • follow)
U.S. warships join Japanese relief effort: This is the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently aiding in relief efforts in Japan, serving as a fueling station for helicopters. The U.S. has several warships in position, with more to arrive in the coming days. This is welcome news, as the picture in Japan looks increasingly grim by the day; as we mentioned earlier, the government now believes a horrific 9,500 may have died in Otsuchi. This is a horrible reminder that for many Japanese citizens, what’s happening with the country’s nuclear reactors is yet a more abstract concern in the face of the massive, physical devastation that’s racked the land. We sincerely hope that our military can be of any and all assistance to the people of Japan. source
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