Khadar Ibrahim

  Riya Akter, 22, is an apparel worker. Asked if she was afraid of becoming infected with COVID-19, she said work came first and needed to be done, otherwise there would not be food on the table.  She works while maintaining social distance with other workers as ready made garment (RMG) factories reopened amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  May 2020. Photo: UN Women/Fahad Abdullah Kaizer by: UN Women The impacts of crises are never gender-neutral, and COVID-19 is no exception. At a glance Economic crises hit women harder. Here’s why: Women tend to earn less. Women have fewer savings. Women are disproportionately more in the informal economy. Women have less access to social protections. Women are more likely to be burdened with unpaid care and domestic work, and therefore have to drop out of the labour force Women make up the majority of single-parent households. Learn more► For the single mother in South Sudan, COVID-19 lockdown measures have paused her sma...

  By:BBC AFRICA A man in Eritrea has died at the age of 127, his family has said, expressing the hope that Natabay Tinsiew will earn a place in the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to have ever lived. “Patience, generosity and a joyful life” were the secrets behind him living for so long, his grandson Zere Natabay told BBC Tigrinya. Mr Natabay died peacefully in his village, Azefa – which has a population of about 300 and is in a gorge surrounded by mountains – on Monday. His grandson said church records – including his birth certificate – showed he was born in 1894 – the year he was baptised – making him 127 at the time of his death. But Mr Natabay’s family believed that he was, in fact, born in 1884, but he was baptised 10 yeas later, when a priest came around to their village. There were few priests at the time, and people waited for them to visit their villagers. Father Mentay, a Catholic priest who served in the village for seven years, confirmed that records showed...

  The British Ambassador to Somalia, Kate Foster, today visited Garowe ahead of the planned local elections in October, to underline the importance of the elections to the wider democratisation process in Puntland. In her first visit to Puntland since her appointment, Ambassador Foster met with President Said Abdullahi Deni, where they discussed progress towards the One Person One Vote (OPOV) election, as well as wider UK, support to the region. Ms Foster also met with officials of the Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC), congratulating them on the progress of the planned local elections. On Federal elections, Ambassador Foster called for Somali leaders to work together and move forward to deliver on their commitments to hold credible national elections on time and in accordance with the 27 May Agreement. Puntland State will hold its first OPOV local elections in October 2021. The pilot elections in the three districts of Qardho, Eyl and Ufayn will be an opportunity t...

  Press-Release The Human Rights Center is deeply disturbed with the arbitrary arrests of opposition members and leaders in Somaliland. HRC has recorded two cases regarding opposition leaders and members being arbitrarily arrested. Saleeban Awale Good, the UCID Deputy Secretary of Information in Awdal region, was arrested on 28/8/2021. He has been in detention in Borama Central prison for the past 45 days, without bail, without charge and without his due process procedures, including a court appearance. He was arrested on the premise of speaking about the job performance of the Governor of Awdal region, following his criticism in the media as he has a right to express his concerns and challenge any official in their job capacity. Arbitrary arrests have steadily been increasing in Somaliland in free speech and freedom of expression and the Human Rights Center is concerned that these violations rapidly increasing is deteriorating the strength of democracy in the country. His arrest c...

Garowe  – Continuing their regular contact with the leaders of Somalia’s Federal Member States, representatives of some of the country’s international partners today visited Puntland to discuss a range of issues, with a particular focus on upcoming local and federal elections. “On the local elections, we were heartened to learn about the progress made so far, particularly that the work of the Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC) is advancing,” the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan, said in media remarks. The UN official was speaking on behalf of the visiting delegation after it had met with Puntland’s President Said Abdullahi Deni and members of his cabinet. The delegation’s other members were the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Ambassador Francisco Madeira; the European Union Ambassador to Somalia, Tiina Intelmann; and the Ambassador of Sweden to Somalia, Per Lindgarde. In addition to ...