Kenya’s hospitals have almost ground to a halt, with millions facing a third month in a row without health care as doctors strike over low pay and poor working conditions. The public health-care system has long been overburdened and underfunded, but has now virtually stopped functioning after 5,000 doctors walk out in December after attempts to reach a compromise with the health ministry stalled. “The machines break down frequently, the doctors are overwhelmed. The patients, they are so many that they are lying on the ground,” said Judy Karagania, an ophthalmology resident at Kenyatta National hospital in Nairobi, who is taking part in the industrial action. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2kFMqkI)
Relief shipment en route to Rohingya…The ship’s first stop was in the Myanmar port city of Yangon, last week, where it unloaded 500 tonnes of supplies. A representative of the mission on the ship said it would unload about 2,000 tonnes of food and emergency supplies in Bangladesh, though staff were not being allowed access. “We are not allowed to get off the ship or to visit the camps,” said the aid representative, who declined to be identified. The 70,000 new arrivals joined more than 200,000 Rohingya already in Bangladesh, many living in camps, who fled earlier crackdowns in Myanmar. A Bangladesh government official said the ship was on its way to the Chittagong port after anchoring off the coastal town of Teknaf, near the Myanmar border, and arrangements were being made to unload its cargo. (Reuters http://reut.rs/2kCktdv)
Top Stories
Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in opposition-controlled parts of Aleppo during battles to retake the city late last year, Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Monday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2kMcwVq)
Almost 200,000 people were under evacuation orders in northern California Monday after a threat of catastrophic failure at the United States’ tallest dam. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2kkAoB4)
More than 1.5 million South Sudanese have become refugees and their humanitarian needs are overwhelming aid efforts during the country’s civil war, according to the United Nations. (AP https://yhoo.it/2lJ8qMs)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Ankara wanted to establish a “safe zone” in northern Syria free of “terrorists,” as Turkish-backed rebels pushed ahead in the town of Al-Bab. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2l1eIqO)
A Malaysian aid ship arrived in Bangladesh on Monday carrying aid for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar, many citing abuses by the Myanmar security forces. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2l8pI7Y)
Up to 27,000 Nigerians in Kaduna have been forced to flee their homes due to violence between Muslim herdsmen and largely Christian farmers which has killed at least 800. (TRF http://tmsnrt.rs/2kM6yE4)
Six journalists in Ivory Coast were arrested on suspicion of faking news which could incite soldiers to revolt, journalist associations said on Monday, just days after a mutiny. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2kDMGjV)
Delayed U.N.-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending Syria’s civil war will resume on February 23 in Geneva, a few days later than previously planned, the UN envoy’s office said Monday. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2kktuM0)
The failure of Pakistan’s Senate deputy chairman, a prominent Islamist politician, to get a U.S. visa on time for a trip to the United States prompted Pakistan to boycott a U.N.-sponsored meeting on Monday, a parliamentary official said. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2l8BQ9e)
Children returned to school and most public transport began operating again on Monday in a Brazilian state that was paralyzed by a protest that prevented military police from patrolling. (AP https://yhoo.it/2lJ9NKZ)
Opinion/Blogs
America’s relationship with the UN looms large at the World Government Summit in Dubai. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2kCmGFx)
Travel ban risks alienating key partners in fight against IS (AP https://yhoo.it/2l17PFZ)
Has Trump started a new deportation drive? (BBC http://bbc.in/2kkiDlq)
With aid under attack, we need stories of development progress more than ever (ODI http://bit.ly/2lJfEzV)
The real and imagined crimes of Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh (AFP https://yhoo.it/2kkwEzi)
How West Africa Built the Muscle to Rout Dictators and Keep the Peace (The Conversation Africa http://bit.ly/2kDLX2n)
How Much Worse Are African Droughts Because of Man-Made Climate Change? (allAfrica http://bit.ly/2kDxq6R)
David Miliband: aid is failing to keep pace with humanitarian crises (Guardian http://bit.ly/2lJ48EK)
Red Cross killings in Afghanistan reveal the limits of aid access (IRIN http://bit.ly/2l8xezP)
