World's biggest refugee camp planned in Bangladesh for Rohingyas

Agencies
October 17, 2017

Paris, Oct 17: Bangladesh has announced plans to build a refugee camp that could accommodate around 800,000 Rohingya Muslims pouring over the border from Myanmar.

The camp would be the largest in the world and has raised concerns about the risks of concentrating vulnerable people, such as the spread of disease.

Around 550,000 Rohingya have fled communal bloodshed in Myanmar since the latest violence began in August 25.

While some have joined the roughly 33,000 fellow Rohingya living in the official camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara since the 1990s, most have set up alongside hundreds of thousands more already living in makeshift camps and villages outside those settlements.

The UN`s refugee agency estimates there are an unprecedented 65.5 million refugees in the world today, split between urban centres or informal settlements, and more formal camps.

Here are some of the largest of these camps, based on UN figures.This vast settlement in far northern Uganda has sprung up over the past year as people flood out of South Sudan, fleeing civil war and severe food shortages.

A village in the Yumbe district on the South Sudan border, Bidibidi became a refugee settlement in August 2016 and now hosts nearly 285,000 people, according to figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Uganda hosts more than half of the nearly two million South Sudanese who have fled their country since war erupted in 2013.

The Adjumani district in the same border area of Uganda contains many further camps and settlements where there are together about 233,000 more South Sudanese.The sprawling Dadaab complex 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Kenya`s border with Somalia has housed Somali refugees for around 26 years.

The majority fled the outbreak of civil war in Somalia 1991 and many never returned, going on to have children and grandchildren.

Dadaab is made up of four camps, some of which have come to resemble towns, but is considered a single area.

There were about 239,500 people in Dadaab at the end of September, according to UN figures. The population peaked at around 485,000 in 2012 following a new influx after famine in Somalia.

A voluntary repatriation programme is helping some to return.

The Kenyan government decided last year to close Dadaab, about 450 kilometres northeast of the capital Nairobi, saying it was a training ground for Shabaab Islamist militants from Somalia.

The decision was overturned by Kenya`s High Court on the grounds that it violated the country`s international obligations and amounted to the persecution of refugees.This camp on the outskirts of the town of the same name in northwestern Kenya was established in 1992 following the arrival of thousands of people fleeing from southern Sudan during the 1983-2005 war.

Many were young boys who risked being forced into combat.

The camp also took in some of the hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians who fled around the fall of the military government in 1991.

About half of the refugees there today are from South Sudan and a quarter from Somalia, with those from Ethiopia down to under four percent.Just 37 kilometres from the border with Burundi, this camp was opened in November 1996 to host people fleeing conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tens of thousands of Burundians arrived in 2015 when their country plunged into crisis after President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term.

Burundians now account for around 47 percent of the camp`s population.

Tanzania hosts around 60 percent of the 410,00.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Washington, Mar 27: The United States has seen a record 18,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 345 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

There are now 97,028 declared virus cases in the country and there have been 1,475 deaths, Johns Hopkins said.

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News Network
March 11,2020

New Delhi, Mar 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “destabilising” the elected Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

Gandhi also said the PM may have “missed” noticing the 35 per cent crash in global oil prices and asked him to pass on the benefit to Indians by slashing petrol prices.

“Hey @PMOIndia, while you were busy destabilising an elected Congress Govt, you may have missed noticing the 35 per cent crash in global oil prices.

“Could you please pass on the benefit to Indians by slashing #petrol prices to under 60 per litre? Will help boost the stalled economy,” the former Congress chief said on twitter.

Congress' prominent youth leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party on Tuesday and appeared set to join the BJP amid a rebellion in Madhya Pradesh by his supporters, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

On Tuesday morning, as much of India was celebrating Holi, Scindia met senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, following which he called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence.

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News Network
May 29,2020

Washington, May 29: Reiterating his offer to mediate on the border dispute between India and China, US President Donald Trump has said that he spoke with Narendra Modi about the "big conflict" and asserted that the Indian Prime Minister is not in a "good mood" over the latest flare-ups between the two countries.

Speaking with the reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, Trump said a "big conflict" was going on between India and China.

"I like your prime minister a lot. He is a great gentleman," the president said.

"Have a big conflict …India and China. Two countries with 1.4 billion people (each). Two countries with very powerful militaries. India is not happy and probably China is not happy," he said when asked if he was worried about the border situation between India and China.

"I can tell you; I did speak to Prime Minister Modi. He is not in a good mood about what is going on with China," Trump said.

A day earlier, the president offered to mediate between India and China.

Trump on Wednesday said in a tweet that he was "ready, willing and able to mediate" between the two countries.

Responding to a question on his tweet, Trump reiterated his offer, saying if called for help, "I would do that (mediate). If they thought it would help" about "mediate or arbitrate, I would do that," he said.

India on Wednesday said it was engaged with China to peacefully resolve the border row, in a carefully crafted reaction to Trump's offer to arbitrate between the two Asian giants to settle their decades-old dispute.

"We are engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve it," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, replying to a volley of questions at an online media briefing.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry is yet to react to Trump's tweet which appears to have caught Beijing by surprise, an op-ed in the state-run Global Times said both countries did not need such a help from the US President.

"The latest dispute can be solved bilaterally by China and India. The two countries should keep alert on the US, which exploits every chance to create waves that jeopardise regional peace and order," it said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that both China and India have proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through dialogue and consultations.

Trump previously offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, a proposal which was rejected by New Delhi.

The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on the evening of May 5 which spilled over to the next day before the two sides agreed to "disengage" following a meeting at the level of local commanders.

Over 100 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in the violence.

The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.

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