Nigerian Islamic Police on Manhunt for TikTokers

Today, we start in Nigeria, where displaced women are creating their own support groups and safety nets through money clubs. Then, travel to Bangladesh, where the ongoing human rights violations are forcing many families to flee the camp. And finally, we stop in India to see thousands of poor people denied food due to an AI algorithm. 

But first, in Ethiopia, where, despite claims from the federal government, the threat of famine is growing more imminent, especially in Tigray.

In November 2020, a massive fallout between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan forces led to an armed conflict, also called the Tigray War, that lasted for two years. This conflict resulted in humanitarian crises such as food shortages and the displacement of more than two million people from their homes, with thousands fleeing into Sudan.

Although a ceasefire was signed in 2022, the effects of the war have reduced Tigray to extreme poverty. Before the conflict, food security in Tigray was already a critical point, and now, with fertile farmlands being seized and the ongoing drought, the possibility of famine is becoming more of a reality daily. There are already reports of hundreds of children dying from starvation in remote areas, and the USAID’s famine early warning system and the UN World Food Programme predict this situation will worsen in 2024. 

But, in addition to the need for more haste from the Ethiopian government to adequately address this escalating issue, Tigrayans also have to worry about the large-scale schemes to steal the already limited food aid meant for them. Last year, an investigation report revealed that 186 regional and federal government officials were caught diverting food meant for Tigray.  

While Ethiopians hope the food crisis eases soon, it’s clear that the government has a lot of work cut out for them. The first crucial step is acknowledging the situation’s urgency and implementing robust measures to safeguard food distribution and aid.  

Stories to read

BBC

Nigerian Islamic police in manhunt for TikTokers

The New Humanitarian

Money clubs help displaced Nigerians create their own safety nets

 

Stories from our site

This Nigerian anthology on queer joy wants to make you “Feel Good”

Queer suffering is serially platformed and disproportionately critically acclaimed across a range of media forms. A new book wants to change that.

Much has been said in criticism of the fetishization of queer suffering. For a long time, queer characters in books, films, and art have been robbed by their writers of the fruits of human existence. From Ijeoma in Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees (2015) to Dumisani in Tendai Huchu’s The Hairdresser of Harare (2010), queer characters are often left to reconcile with endings that are, at best, bittersweet and at worst, tragic. Tenderness, companionship, spirituality, sensualism, and joy seem devastatingly out of reach for many queer media characters. 

Queer joy, as a movement, seeks to radically depart from the doom and gloom historically associated with queer media to tell stories that uplift and inspire. Proponents of the movement present queer characters falling in love, enjoying healthy familial relationships, and wholly accepting themselves and their identities. 

Peace and reconciliation remain “a pipe dream” for genocide survivors in Zimbabwe

As the end of the ten-year tenure of the body that was meant to bring peace and healing to survivors and families of past atrocities in Zimbabwe draws close, those who had invested hope in it feel cheated.

The unveiling of a new constitution in 2013 brought fresh hopes to different Zimbabweans. 

For Duncan Maseko, then 41, the inclusion of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), a statutory body tasked with searching for truth and ensuring past injustices are remedied, gave him hope. He could finally know the truth about his father, who had been abducted from their home three decades ago. 

Maseko was not alone in investing his hopes in the NPRC. The NPRC also appeared to be an answered prayer to tens of thousands of others who had suffered various injustices and were searching for truth and closure. But as the ten-year tenure of the commission draws close, Maseko and the others are thoroughly dejected.

Fact of the week

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to Mount Nyiragongo, a stratovolcano with the world’s largest lava lake. The lava lake is continuously active.

Stories from Around the World

HumAngle

Life On The Spectrum: Misdiagnosis Gap Affecting Autistic Women In Nigeria

Autism diagnosis is hard to come by in Nigeria, especially for those with high-functioning autism. However, for women on the autistic spectrum, the journey is far more complex, making diagnosis even harder to get.

Mirabel Andrew’s* life has been riddled with a lot of sensory issues, especially in her childhood, as she couldn’t stand noises such as thunderstorms and certain fabrics. She also preferred solitary activities over group ones. Even when she’s not reading or playing video games, she hardly interacts with others.

 “In primary school, I developed an interest in the Pokémon franchise, which became a lifelong special interest, and it’s socially fine when you are 9. It later became a bit of a faux-pas, so to speak, by the time I got to secondary school.”

At that time, she had started falling behind on assignments.

I didn’t know how to talk about anything more than the three niche interests I had, and I struggled with eating because of the sensory issue. I tend to go nonverbal when stressed out, though sometimes, it happens with no apparent trigger. So sometimes I would go from an hour to two days without saying a single word, not because I didn’t want to but because I physically couldn’t, like I had forgotten how to speak.”

Human Rights Watch

Bangladesh Police Abuses Rampant in Rohingya Camps

Earlier this month, a Rohingya woman in a refugee camp in Bangladesh reported that a police officer had been stalking her for a year. She said that on the night of 7 January, he entered her home under the pretext of a search operation and attempted to rape her.

The Bangladesh Armed Police Battalion (APBn), deployed to provide refugee camp security, has yet to investigate the case. A neighbor said that when the 22-year-old mother of two shouted for help, some local residents stepped forward but were stopped by two men in civilian clothes claiming to be members of the security team. The men only left after more people had gathered. The woman’s husband said he has since received anonymous threats on the phone and fears that he might be arrested or his family killed. “I think we will leave the camp and either go to Myanmar or take a boat to Indonesia,” he told Human Rights Watch.

‘The Bangladesh authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the matter. To provide genuine security in the camps, they need to take refugees’ accusations of police violence seriously.

Aljazeera

How an algorithm denied food to thousands of poor in India’s Telangana

Hyderabad and New Delhi, India – Bismillah Bee can’t conceive of owning a car. The 67-year-old widow and 12 family members live in a cramped three-room house in an urban slum in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana. Since her rickshaw puller husband’s death two years ago of mouth cancer, Bee makes a living by peeling garlic for a local business.

But an algorithmic system, which the Telangana government deploys to profile its more than 30 million residents digitally, tagged Bee’s husband as a car owner in 2021 when he was still alive. This deprived her of the subsidized food the government must provide the poor under the Indian food security law.

Thus, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging in India and her husband’s cancer had peaked, Bee was running between government authorities to convince them that she did not own a car and that she, indeed, was poor.

The authorities did not trust her – they believed their algorithm. Her fight to get her rightful subsidized food supply reached the Supreme Court of India.

Stories we’ve enjoyed reading

CNN

Two of the greatest female surfers stepping back from the sport

Surfing is about to experience a seismic change in 2024 as two of the standard-bearers of the sport are stepping away from the board and waves.

Eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore is taking a break from competitive surfing – for a year, at least.

Australian Gilmore, widely regarded as the greatest female surfer of all time, announced that she wouldn’t be competing in the 2024 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour season, instead focusing on enjoying other things in life.

“I am planning to take this time as a refresh for myself physically and mentally, and enjoy following swells and free surfing in new places,” Gilmore said in a statement released by the WSL.

The news comes just days after Team USA Olympic champion and five-time world champion Carissa Moore announced she was stepping away from the sport after she defended her Olympic gold in Paris 2024.