Myanmar conservation indigenous peoples Karen

'Peace means self-determination': an interview with Paul Sein Twa



The Salween Peace Park, managed by KESAN, is an ambitious conservation project which came out of devastating teak deforestation in the Karen Territories.

Interview 

1 September 2024
Lital Khaikin

Revolutionary conservation is at the heart of the Indigenous Karen struggle in southeast Myanmar, as activist Paul Sein Twa explains to Lital Khaikin.

‘We’ve been forgotten,’ says Paul Sein Twa, internationally recognized Karen environmental activist, and executive director of Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN).

He has lived through several periods of political turmoil in Myanmar, passing from one military regime to another and navigating predatory international development and centralization reforms under the democratic mandate of former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Out of the devastation caused by teak deforestation in the Karen territories came an ambitious conservation project known as the Salween Peace Park, which is in part managed by KESAN. The Karen-administered park now encompasses 5,485 square kilometres, including more than 350 villages and 27 community forests.

According to Paul, the majority of people living within the park itself have experienced displacement since the 2021 military coup and escalation of the civil war. The park continues its mission of conservation, working in tandem with the revolutionary Karen National Union (KNU) government toward autonomous Karen state governance and recognition under Burmese legislation despite continued threats from airstrikes.

How did you get started in environmental activism?

In 1988 Thailand banned commercial logging because of the environmental impact and landslides, and started to import timber from neighbouring countries. Burma [renamed Myanmar in 1989] needed foreign money because in 1988 there was a nationwide uprising against the dictatorship... they went bankrupt. So they sold logging concessions along the Thai-Burma border that was at the time controlled by ethnic resistance groups and the KNU. The Burmese military government gained foreign money to buy weapons to support operations against ethnic groups. It was also to destroy the forest which [had] protected the people and all the resistance movements – logging opened up the forest through roads and helped to quickly move in and militarize the area.

[A few] years later, there was a huge flood, landslides along the river like never before. It struck me as a young student that there’s something very wrong with logging. Logging businesses didn’t bring any benefit to the local people.

In the early 2000s, the military government wanted to build hydropower dams along the Salween River. You can see a sequence of development that led to militarization and human-rights violations. So for me, it was a wake-up call for younger people to do something, and that’s when I got interested in environmental activism.

Can you talk about how the Salween Peace Park got established?

The Peace Park initiative started during the peace process in early 2012. The armed conflict prevented bigger projects like dams and mining from penetrating into this area. But the ceasefire facilitated them – [the government] tried to bring them in as incentives to the resistance leaders. ‘Development for peace’ or something along those lines.

But we very much disagree with that, because the kind of peace that we want is not that – it is the freedom to be able to govern ourselves, to be able to make our own decisions about our own lives, our resources, our land. That kind of autonomy in the context of the federal system has always been our call for political reform.

The ceasefire brought other kinds of threats. It was not only the military government. We were also facing foreign investment and other emergent actors like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Everything was top-down.

With the Salween Peace Park, the idea was that we need to have initiatives that show what we want, what our vision is, and what we would like to achieve when we talk about peace. Peace means self-determination. Peace means biological conservation. Peace means revitalization of our culture and Indigenous knowledge: our way of life.

‘The usual way to conserve and manage the forest and the landscape is through a top-down conservation governance model. We have a different model: our Indigenous way of doing’

How are you replacing colonial forestry practices with Karen-led forestry?

The usual way to conserve and manage the forest and the landscape is through a top-down conservation governance model. We have a different model: our Indigenous way of doing. We started to demarcate and map the Indigenous territory called Kaw customary lands. In each unit of land, you have between 10 and 20 villages that you can say own that land – maybe own is not the right word to use in Indigenous terms!

So the land doesn’t belong to you?

We belong to the land, because when we die we go back to the land. Everything we use from the land is through a stewardship philosophy, meaning we are not the owners but we are trusted to take care of it.

We try to recognize each customary territory and make people in that area say yes, this is our territory, this is so valuable, this is so important, so we need to take care of it. That’s why even though the Salween Peace Park is a huge area, it’s not difficult to bring people together because we have the same understanding, concerns and vision. We don’t want to see our land being grabbed or exploited for any extractive activities or other development projects.

With forest management, the colonial [form] where everything is decided by the forestry department doesn’t work because the forestry department has very few resources, so they cannot look after big areas. We have proof that after 10 years, we can show improvement compared to a government reserve or national park.

How has the community self-governance in Salween Peace Park and the KNU navigated the conflicting foreign interests in Myanmar’s natural resources amid the civil war?

In post-conflict times, governments usually follow Western development models. We need to step up and promote alternatives to the Western or capitalistic way of doing development.

The path that we do want is more ecological. In terms of livelihoods, it should be looking at agroecological approaches and food sovereignty, and addressing the issues of farmers who have been impacted by armed conflict and other crises like landlessness because of land grabs.

The law of customary land [is that people] should get a fair share, not that the government seizes all this land, pays a little compensation, and then leases the rest to a company for a hundred years. We want a new model in which communities are involved through all of the development process. We need to be different and not follow the failed pathways of capitalism.

Ethnonationalism and Myanmar’s future

The crisis in Myanmar is a fundamental struggle over the identity and structure of the nation-state. Underpinning this conflict are ethnonational politics that are driving war but also create avenues for peace.


A camp of the Kachin Independence Army, April 2014. Photo: David Brenner.

David Brenner - 18 Sep, 2024

Observers in the West have largely interpreted the devastating violence that has engulfed Myanmar following the February 2021 military coup as a “battle between democracy and authoritarianism”. This understanding has become commonplace amongst journalists, researchers, and policymakers describing the conflict. The struggle for democracy has indeed long served as the main analytical lens through which Myanmar’s troubled politics are interpreted in Washington, London, Brussels and Canberra. This emphasis on Myanmar’s political system, however, fails to account for the root causes and key dynamics of the crisis. The crisis is not merely a clash over governance models, but a fundamental struggle over the identity and structure of the nation-state itself.

More problematically, the “lens of democracy” renders these root causes of conflict invisible. It does so by viewing the nation-state as the natural form of political organising. But state formation in Myanmar has remained highly contested. It has also become inseparable from violence along ethnic lines: in a region where colonial modernity has imprinted questions of ethnicity into the trajectory of state-making, ethnonational politics shape Myanmar’s current crisis in a profound way. Shifting our focus to such ethnonational politics is therefore key to understanding the main drivers of the conflict, and by extension, how policy can support a more peaceful future in the country.
Rethinking the drivers of war

The biggest challenge to peace in Myanmar is the country’s military and its attempt to terrorise the population into submission. But while the generals are chiefly responsible for dragging the country towards the abyss, there is a need to reckon with the underlying structural features of Myanmar’s state, which have haunted the country since British colonial rule. Since an attempt to negotiate power between ethnic groups failed at the eve of independence in 1947, the state has not been able to address ethnic minority grievances or forge a unified national identity.

Ethnonational conflict has also long been exacerbated by the country’s leaders, who have sowed ethnic division and violence for decades. The military has maintained its longstanding stranglehold over the country precisely because generals have used the threat of ethnic separatism to portray themselves as the “guardians of the nation”. These generals have turned Myanmar into an ethnocratic state that discriminates against ethnic minorities, or ethnic nationalities, who make up about 40% of the population. Ethnic conflict has consequently remained a defining feature of the postcolonial state.


The military-controlled Ministry of Border Affairs in the Naga-Self Administered Zone, Nanyun, January 2018 (Photo: David Brenner)

Many ethnic nationalities have resisted institutional discrimination for decades, including by taking up arms against the central state. The military has responded with waging war against them, painting them as internal enemies of the nation. This strategy has become the military’s key means of state making, and it is why the military has long fuelled ethnic tensions with divide-and rule tactics. It continues to do so in the current war with devastating consequences. As a result of the military’s divisive tactics, a multitude of ethnonational rebel movements, known as Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs), have mobilised across the country. In addition to fighting for more autonomy for their respective constituents, EAOs have built de facto states within the state in territories that have never been exclusively controlled by the military.

EAOs have played a critical role in the current countrywide armed mobilisation, including the formation of People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) that have taken up arms against the junta. Some EAOs, such as those of the Karen, Chin, Karenni, and Kachin, aligned themselves with the Spring Revolution early on and have sheltered, trained, and organised armed resistance units on a large scale. But even EAOs who have kept a distance from the countrywide campaign for democracy, such as the Ta’ang, Kokang, Arakan, and Wa movements, have proven instrumental in the armed uprising across Myanmar. Their non-state territories and guerrilla logistics have helped to scale up the military capabilities of armed opposition forces countrywide.

The rapid unravelling of military control over large swathes of territory, including urban centres in the country’s borderlands since late 2023, is a direct consequence of unprecedented EAO offensives. Yet despite their recent coordination, EAOs follow different strategies. Indeed, the aforementioned escalation was spearheaded by EAOs that have remained sceptical about the Spring Revolution. Notwithstanding their positioning on the revolution, the main concern of all EAOs remains autonomy for their ethnic constituents. The key difference is that some EAOs seek to achieve this autonomy in closer cooperation with the countrywide revolution for federal democracy, while others seek to achieve it more independently.


AA commander Twan Mrat Naing in the group’s temporary Kachin State headquarters, March 2014 (Photo: David Brenner)

Twan Mrat Naing, commander of the Arakan Army (AA), one of the most powerful EAOs in the country, illuminated the latter position to journalists in 2022. Explaining why his movement did not join hands with the Spring Revolution after the coup he stated, “Our main objective is ‘Rakhita,’ to win back our lost sovereignty. The previous generations in Arakan wasted a lot of time in following and supporting the Burmese … Arakan was even involved in the 1988 movement to restore democracy, but failed to reap any benefits.” He continued, “After such experiences, we no longer want to follow the Burmese. We want to work towards our own objectives. It is our strategic position to remain at a distance from the ongoing struggle for democracy now in Burma.”

Importantly, though, these positions are not fixed, and continue to evolve with the rapidly developing situation. This is why EAOs cannot easily be divided into two camps. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, for instance, voiced strong concerns against a closer alliance with the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) in late 2022. Since then, it has rapidly developed alliances with NUG-affiliated PDFs. The movement currently seeks to cooperate with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to restore public services in the territory that it has captured in its offensives since last October. In a recent interview, the AA’s Twan Mrat Naing explained how evolving relations with other resistance forces has also shaped his outlook over the past two years. He stressed the need for building more alliances and partnerships and adopting a “holistic view that accounts for the entire union and our surrounding environment.” In his perspective, this is not inconsistent with “the confederation that Rakhine has been advocating” (rather than a federal union).
Finding avenues for peace

Ethnonational politics in Myanmar are not only a force of war—they have also long worked as one of the main determinants of local stability. As the state has never exclusively governed its territory, EAOs have been operating non-state administration for decades. These alternative political orders are especially sophisticated in Myanmar’s borderlands with China and Thailand, where organisations such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) have long remained influential governance actors. Their administrations are instrumental in delivering health and education to hundreds of thousands of conflict-affected people. They have also become important international partners, as demonstrated by their crucial role in humanitarian relief aid, refugee protection, and regional pandemic responses.

A nurse prepares an anaesthetic in the KIO-operated hospital of Laiza. March 2014 (Photo: David Brenner)

Mainstream accounts in the literature on “rebel governance” fail to adequately capture the diverse functions of EAO administrations. EAO governance is not only an instrumental means to power, with which rebel groups deliver public services in return for local support and legitimacy. A purely regulative perspective that highlights the maintenance of public order is also insufficient. Rather, EAO governance is primarily about fostering national sovereignty in ethnic nationality communities. Put differently, EAO governance is about nation-building.

What does this mean for Myanmar’s future and potential avenues for peace? At a time when multiple EAOs are drastically expanding their territories, their governance apparatuses and nation-building ambitions are expanding, too. While most such claims precede the military coup, they have become more sensitive with the rapid expansion of EAOs. This presents an increased risk of inter-EAO conflict over territorial claims. (That said, northern Shan State, a place where inter-EAO relations have long been tense, also showcases that EAOs are mostly pragmatic in addressing such conflict with each other.)



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More pressing are issues of inclusivity and accountability. EAOs govern over ethnically heterogeneous populations, and this heterogeneity has only increased with their current territorial gains. This becomes particularly worrisome in regions where communal conflict predates the current crisis. For instance, reports of the AA’s attacks on Rohingya communities, its inflammatory anti-Rohingya rhetoric, and intimidation of civil society rightfully raise alarm bells. However, we must not tar all EAOs with the same brush. EAOs are hugely diverse organisations, with a vast variety of ideological leanings, historical experiences, internal governance mechanisms, and material conditions.

Some EAOs have produced more accountable and inclusive relations with local communities than others. The KNU and the KIO, for instance, have a long tradition of engaging with civil society actors. These actors have played an important role in spearheading new forms of accountable governance, such as in the case of the Salween Peace Park, a land rights and conservation project led by Karen activists in collaboration with the KNU. The KNU and KIO also operate extensive non-state education systems that support ethnic diversity. While their curricula stresses mother-tongue based education, they both strive for more inclusivity in their education systems that partly operate in heterogeneous communities. The KIO has, for instance, just announced its support for other ethnic and religious groups setting up private schools in its territory.

A Karen National Police Force member of the KNU at the Salween Peace Park opening in Mutraw, December 2019 (Photo: David Brenner)

None of this is perfect, and how could it be, in the context of a decades-long war? But it clearly suggests promising possibilities for a more peaceful future. The key to such a future is bolstering initiatives that support inclusive and accountable EAO governance. Rather than shun all EAOs because of the actions of individual armed groups, donors and development agencies should step up their engagement with these groups, who will only grow in their role as governance actors in Myanmar. Similarly, as US policymakers seek to step up their support for Myanmar, the newfound Congressional Burma Caucus should work with rather than against the grain of EAO governance. Concretely, this means partnering with EAOs beyond humanitarian aid relief.

US lawmakers and government agencies should follow through on the pledges outlined in the BURMA Act of 2022 and step up the provision of non-lethal support for resistance actors in Myanmar. Other donors should do the same. Part of this aid should be used for supporting EAO governance in areas that foster cooperation and stability, such as education, health, justice, and land rights. To do so, donors should seek the partnership of local civil society actors from diverse ethnic nationality communities for this endeavour. These actors are key to ensuring that support goes to initiatives that strengthen inclusive and accountable forms of governance. This targeted approach to support is the best way to incentivise all EAOs to adopt governance practices that promote inclusivity and accountability, carving a sustainable path to peace in Myanmar.

Working with EAO governance can in turn serve as a useful impetus for rethinking international interventions in conflict-affected contexts more generally. To be sure, calling for closer engagement with local governance actors is nothing new in and of itself. On the contrary, the “local turn” has become the mainstay of critical peacebuilding research and practice. The bulk of this work, however, remains wedded to Eurocentric understandings of the state and “the local”—or at least those local actors whose politics are deemed worthy of support.

Unsurprisingly, ethnonational armed movements have hitherto not been viewed as local peacebuilding partners. And while we must not romanticise exclusionary tendencies of ethnonationalist ideologies, we need to contextualise them within the postcolonial politics of ethnocratic state formation in a context like Myanmar. Doing so produces a more differentiated understanding of the drivers of conflict and suggests new avenues for peace.

Author’s note: I am grateful to Jenna Marcus for her helpful feedback.

 New Mandala


About the Author
 

David Brenner
David Brenner is Senior Lecturer in Global Insecurities at the University of Sussex. He has researched ethnonational politics and EAOs in Myanmar since 2012, including for his PhD at the London School of Economics. He has published widely on the matter and is author of "Rebel Politics: A Political Sociology of Armed Struggle in Myanmar’s Borderlands" (Cornell University Press, 2019).

CLIMATE CRISIS

European Union warns deadly flooding, wildfires show climate breakdown fast becoming the norm

EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic warned that beyond the human cost, nations are also struggling to cope with mounting bills for repairing the damage from emergencies and the lengthy recovery from disaster

AP Brussels Published 18.09.24

Flooded street in the town of Nysa (left), Wildfire advances near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal (right).AP/PTI

Devastating floods through much of Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken, the European Union's head office said Wednesday.

“Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future,” said EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic.

The worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes. At the other end of the 27-nation EU, raging fires through northern Portugal have killed at last six people.

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In pictures: Poland fortifies towns as deadly floods afflict central Europe

“Europe is the fastest warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past,” Lenarcic told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.

He warned that beyond the human cost, nations are also struggling to cope with mounting bills for repairing the damage from emergencies and the lengthy recovery from disaster.

“The average cost of disasters in the 1980s was 8 billion euros per year. More recently in 2021 and in 2022, the damage is surpassed 50 billion euros per year, meaning the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action,” he said.

Terry Reintke, president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, said the cost for the EU since the 1980s was estimated at 650 billion euros.

The EU is struggling to move quickly with measures to counter climate change and has run into political opposition in many member states, where the political climate is turning against environmental issues and measures ranging from home heating to farm pollution.

“Our success will depend on how determined we are to combat climate change together in order to reduce emissions,” Reintke said, adding that EU members must back its Green Deal.

The vast EU plan to become climate neutral by 2050 has come under increasing pressure from critics who call it unrealistic and too expensive. Populist and far-right parties have made it a key point of attack on the bloc's institutions.

Lenarcic said people only needed to follow the daily news to understand the urgency of the issue.

“We face a Europe that is simultaneously flooding and burning. These extreme weather events ... are now an almost annual occurrence,” he said. “The global reality of the climate breakdown has moved into the everyday lives of Europeans.”

Fires, floods and drought: Multiple extreme weather events unfold across the globe

Wednesday 18 September 2024 

Drought in the Madeira river, Brazil (left), wildfires in Brazil (top right) and flooding in the Czech Republic (bottom right).Credit: AP

Multiple extreme weather events have unfolded across the globe in recent weeks.

Hundreds of people have died and homes and livelihoods were destroyed as catastrophic flooding, large wildfires, intense bouts of heat and drought and supercharged typhoons struck across continents, destroying homes and livelihoods.

Climate scientists have warned global warming is likely contributing to more frequent extreme weather events, with 2024 the hottest global summer on record, and rising sea temperatures driving more intense storms.

The European Union's head office said recent events on the continent, including wildfires in Portugal and devastating flooding in central and eastern Europe, is proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken.

EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said: “We face a Europe that is simultaneously flooding and burning. These extreme weather events ... are now an almost annual occurrence.


Six dead as thousands of firefighters tackle Portugal wildfires


Battle to reinforce Poland and Hungary rivers after 17 dead in Europe floods

“The global reality of the climate breakdown has moved into the everyday lives of Europeans.”

Europe is the world's fastest warming continent, he added, making it "particularly vulnerable" to extreme weather

Lenarcic also warned that beyond the human cost, nations are also struggling to cope with mounting bills for repairing the damage from emergencies and the lengthy recovery from disaster.

Wildfires

Firefighters in Portugal are battling to contain some 100 wildfires that have raged across the north of the country.

Hot and dry conditions sparked the blazes, which have killed at least six people, including four firefighters. Many have been forced to flee their homes and more than 50 have been injured.

Active outbreaks of wildfires in Peru have led to the deaths of at least 15 people since July.

A wildfire consumes a rural area in Varzea Paulista, Sao Paulo state, Brazil.Credit: AP

Blazes have also broken out in Brazil's Brasilia National Park. The fire was started by human activity, according to police, but weather conditions caused it to quickly spread.

Wildfires have also raged in southern California. On Sunday, more than 8,000 people battled three large outbreaks, with the largest forcing around 10,000 people to evacuate.

Members of Riverside County Cal Fire walk up a hillside while battling in California.Credit: AP

Flooding

More than 500 people have been killed in south east Asia, after Typhoon Yagi combined with seasonal monsoon rains triggered catastrophic floods and landslide.

Myanmar was particularly badly affected, with Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines also in its path.

A boy wades through a flooded road, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.Credit: AP

Storm Boris swept through central Europe this week brought widespread flooding which has killed at least 17 people across Poland, Romania, Austria and the Czech Republic.

In Italy, the country's National Civil Protection Service has also issued yellow alerts for nearly 50 regions tomorrow, warning there is a risk of storms, landslides and floods.

A resident is evacuated from her flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic.Credit: AP

Parts of the US state of North Carolina have also been struck by flooding, with 20 inches (50cm) of rain falling in some areas.

In Nigeria, severe rains caused a major dam to collapse on September 10, killing 30 people and displacing a million

.

Houses and buildings are partially submerged following a dam collapse in Maiduguri, Nigeria.Credit: AP

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Drought

As wildfires rage in Brasilia National Park, Brazil is also enduring its worst drought since records began more than seven decades ago, affecting almost 60% of the country.

Authorities said water levels of the Paraguay River fell to their lowest point in 120 years.

Low water levels on a river in Lambare, Paraguay.Credit: AP

Severe drought in Zimbabwe and Namibia has prompted governments to plan to slaughter hundreds of wild animals, including elephants, to help feed those struggling to afford food.

Worst drought on record lowers Amazon rivers to all-time lows

The worst drought on record has lowered the water level of the rivers in the Amazon basin to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were previously navigable waterways.

The Solimoes, one of the main tributaries of the mighty Amazon River whose waters originate in the Peruvian Andes, has fallen to its lowest level on record in Tabatinga, the Brazilian town on the border with Colombia.

Downriver in Tefé, a branch of the Solimoes has dried up completely, as seen by Reuters reporters who flew over the river on Sunday.

The nearby Lake Tefé, where more than 200 freshwater dolphins died in last year’s drought, has also dried up, depriving the endangered pink mammals of a favorite habitat.

“We are going through a critical year,” said Greenpeace spokesperson Romulo Batista, pointing to where the riverbed of the branch of the Solimoes had turned to mounds of sand. “This year, several months have broken last year’s records.”

The second-consecutive year of critical drought has parched much of Brazil’s vegetation and caused wildfires across South American nations, cloaking cities in clouds of smoke.

“Climate change is no longer something to worry about in the future, 10 or 20 years from now. It’s here and it’s here with much more force than we expected,” Batista added.

The Solimoes in Tabatinga was measured at 4.25 meters below average for the first half of September.

At Tefé, the river was 2.92 meters below the average level for the same two weeks last year and is expected to drop further to its lowest-ever.

In Manaus, the Amazon’s largest city, where the Solimoes joins the Rio Negro to form the Amazon River proper, the level of the Rio Negro is approaching the record low reached in October last year.

“Last year, we were in this situation by October,” said Indigenous leader Kambeba. “This year, the drought has gotten worse.”

(Reuters)

Storm Boris hits Romania’s ailing villages, but misses its economy

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu meets victims of the floods in eastern Romania. / gov.rFacebook

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By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest September 18, 2024

Thousands of homes — estimates range between 5,000 and 6,500 — have been filled with mud in several villages in eastern Romania, following severe floods in recent days. Approximately 20,000 homes were impacted by Storm Boris, which has ravaged Central Europe and dominated headlines for days.

However, from a macroeconomic perspective, Storm Boris did not significantly impact Romania's key economic hubs or its core working population, which are concentrated in urban areas and tend to shape public opinion and media coverage.

That doesn’t diminish the humanitarian crisis faced by those relying on public support, particularly as they are the weakest segment of the country’s population. Several hundred people in Romania now rely on public support in the camps organised by the government.  

Still, the floods quickly faded from the headlines in Romania. A large part of the population in the area hit by the storm was either working abroad, or in their apartments in the cities when Storm Boris arrived at their countryside homes. The flooding thus hit the weakest people — those who remained in the villages — and most of them still managed to get support from their families in urban areas.

Unlike Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava or Prague, Bucharest and the other large Romanian cities that account for most of the country’s GDP are not on major rivers. 

The flow on the Danube is controlled by two dams, so the most exposed populated areas are small villages on rivers insufficiently touched by the communist regime’s river regulation campaign. A river regularisation project abandoned on the fall of communism in 1989 could have prevented the flooding of several villages over the weekend, according to experts.

Estimating the damage is challenging, as very few of the damaged houses were insured under the mandatory scheme, and perhaps none under voluntary schemes. Much of the damaged infrastructure was already in poor condition. There were no factories, large farms or modern retail establishments in the affected areas. Banks rarely even have ATMs in villages like those hit by the floods. Even the betting shops found on almost every street in Romania are banned by law from villages with a population under a certain threshold.

The executive quickly decided to pay out €20mn from the reserve fund, or €2,000 per damaged house, and jumped at the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to support the affected population ahead of the parliamentary elections this year.

While firefighters were still rescuing people in the flooded areas, the president of the junior ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) Nicolae Ciuca was launching his presidential candidacy.

Meanwhile, Social Democrat leader and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was celebrating the appointment of Romania’s nominee in the European Commission. Ironically, Roxana Minzatu was appointed as commissioner for social policies, an area where Romania lags behind as demonstrated by the widest income discrepancy in the entire European Union.

Why Urgent Action is Needed for a Crimes Against Humanity Treaty


18.09.24 | 

[Richard Dicker was the longtime international justice director and is now a senior legal adviser for advocacy at Human Rights Watch. He teaches courses on international criminal courts at Columbia Law School.]

Goitom, a 42-year-old ethnic Tigrayan farmer, living in that northern region of Ethiopia, watched helplessly when, on January 17, 2021, Amhara Special Forces – a brutal paramilitary group – beat up and detained Tigrayan men in his town.

As he told Human Rights Watch researchers, “Our numbers were decreasing by the day. After the Tekeze incident [a massacre of 60 Tigrayan men] happened, Tigrayans left in big numbers. There was nothing to live for. We were not part of the town; it was taken over by other people. We were not allowed to live.”

A 74-year old survivor of the Tekere River killings described it to Human Rights Watch. “When they shot at us, I fell first and then I saw also when the others in front of me were shot and fell. And the people behind me fell on me and covered me ….” After that, he heard the para-military troops say, “‘The Tigrayans don’t die easily, shoot again.’”

These acts and others committed against Tigrayans were crimes against humanity. These are acts of murder, rape, torture, apartheid, deportation and persecution committed as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population following from a state or organizational policy. Along with genocide and war crimes, they are the most serious international crimes.

These first-hand descriptions are similar to accounts that witnesses and victims have conveyed to investigators in Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Sudan as crimes against humanity proliferate globally. And before these more recent scenes of devastation unfolded, civilians in Syria, Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan endured—and continue to endure—comparable assaults.

Yet, unlike for genocide and war crimes there is no specific international treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity. Thisleaves a stark gap in international law protections for those all-too-often at risk. The UN’s International Law Commission finalized a set of provisions – the Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity (“Draft Articles”) in 2019 and promptly forwarded them to UN Headquarters five years ago with recommendations to start negotiations. Yet, a handful of obstructive states stalled headway. In 2022, nearly a majority of UN Member States—north and south—moved to close the gap with the Draft Articles as the essential starting point in actual negotiations. Since then, there have been two special sessions for “discussion” in 2023 and 2024 at the General Assembly’s legal committee—its Sixth Committee—plus several yearly debates and written submissions of positions. This effort is heading to a climactic showdown in the fall.

The Sixth Committee is mandated to make a decision, on whether to move these draft provisions forward to negotiations or, in the alternative, consign them to the oblivion of endless rounds of discussion. With its potential protective impact for civilians at risk, this next step is the most significant decision on international law-making the UN will make this year.

A much-needed international treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity, could be enforced by national courts, adding significantly to the global ecosystem to support justice for the worst crimes. While not a panacea, a convention could significantly strengthen protections for potential victims by both preventing and punishing these crimes. A treaty would also define the legal obligations of treaty member states to cooperate with one another. This would include extraditing suspects to those member states that are prepared to try them fairly. This would extend justice’s reach where other courts like the International Criminal Court are not able to act.

At UN headquarters, the drive to start negotiations is being led by Mexico and The Gambia. These two have recently circulated a draft resolution to all UN member states calling for negotiations to begin and end in 2026. The number of states willing to co-sponsor this text will be a measure of the breadth and depth of support to move forward. In 2022, 86 member states signed on as co-sponsors. These states represented all regions of the world—Africa, the Americas, Europe and North America, the Middle East, and Asia. This year the numbers and regional diversity of supportive states will be especially important.

At a time of intensifying geo-political divisions that are clearly manifest in the meeting rooms of the UN, it’s hardly surprising that there is deeply entrenched opposition towards a treaty on crimes against humanity. There is a small group bound by ideology and self-interest—the Russian Federation, the Peoples Republic of China, Iran, Cuba, DPRK, Eritrea—that are adamantly against any headway. Seeking some veneer of legitimacy, the group has anointed itself “the Friends of the UN Charter.” These “Friends” deny that there is a missing pillar of international law due to the absence of a crimes against humanity treaty.

The actual alignment of forces was on clear display at the last “discussion” session in April 2024. There, states made 51 separate statements favoring moving to negotiations. This number includes remarks by groups of states. Some were larger groups, like the European Union and the states of the Americas region, while some were smaller, like the Portuguese-speaking nations. At that same session, six states took the floor to oppose going to negotiations.

To predict what will happen at the Sixth Committee this Fall, one could look to the sequence of events two years ago. In 2022, after denouncing the effort to start negotiations, some of the “Friends” returned to bargain for—and obtain—a few concessions. This led to a “consensus” agreement supported by all member states that propelled a General Assembly Resolution mandating two years of “discussion” and a final decision on next steps in Fall 2024. The supportive states are clearly seeking a consensus decision which will require an even larger and more diverse group of backers.

Among UN member states, there is a large group that have yet to take a position on next steps for the Draft Articles and a large segment of them need to voice their support for negotiations. Many of these states have had direct experience with these crimes. They have a great deal to add in creating a treaty that will provide meaningful protections for their populations. Recognizing that strengthening their national judicial systems through an international treaty is a crucial link in enabling these to become supporters.

At the same time, the terrain is different than it was two years ago. The geo-political divisions shaping today’s international landscape are more intense than in 2022. This tension spills over onto nearly every issue at UN Headquarters. In addition, the stakes are higher than they were two years ago: the decision at hand is to begin negotiations. So no matter how many states want to start negotiations, it’s entirely possible that some of the “Friends” will not agree to a consensus to begin negotiations.

Significantly, unlike other General Assembly committees, the Sixth Committee over the years has taken its decisions by “consensus.” The UN Charter and rules do not require this. There are various reasons that states, large and small, cite to justify this peculiar method of multilateral decision-making and the resulting paralysis it has engendered. But if consensus to start negotiations proves to be impossible to attain, the supportive states, prompted by the imperative of creating a treaty preventing and punishing these crimes, need to be ready to depart from consensus and take this to a vote.

The rationale for breaking with the tradition of consensus is rooted in the serious consequences for those at greatest risk of these crimes. Given the devastation that has scarred countless civilians, a crimes against humanity treaty will offer future victims a means of redress. In the face of the growing number of conflict or unstable country situations, that have been exacerbated by sharpening geopolitical divisions, beginning negotiations will send a powerful signal. On an increasingly fractured global landscape, the decision to negotiate would demonstrate that the protections of international law are expanding, not withering. That would be a powerful and greatly positive message to emanate from the United Nations this Fall.

6M children affected by  (SUPER) Typhoon Yagi in Southeast Asia, says UN body

UNICEF says floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi have ravaged Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand

Islamuddin Sajid |18.09.2024 - 



Nearly six million children were affected by the destruction caused by Typhoon Yagi in Southeast Asia, said UNICEF on Wednesday.

In a statement issued from Bangkok, UNICEF said floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi have ravaged Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, affecting nearly six million children and compromising their access to clean water, education, healthcare, food, and shelter.

“The most vulnerable children and families are facing the most devastating consequences of the destruction left behind by Typhoon Yagi,” said June Kunugi, UNICEF regional director for East Asia and Pacific.

The most powerful storm that hit Asia so far this year, Typhoon Yagi brought torrential rains on top of existing seasonal rainfall, causing rivers to overflow and triggering deadly landslides in the region.

In its wake, over 850 schools and more than 550 health centers were damaged, according to a report.

Only in Vietnam, the powerful typhoon affected three million children while casualties have also climbed to 350 as the powerful storm caused $1.6 billion in economic losses to the country, according to an official statement.

In Myanmar, over 170 people were killed and more than 320,000 people were displaced by the powerful typhoon while road networks, telecommunications, and electricity infrastructure suffered major damage across central Myanmar, said UNICEF.

However, according to local broadcaster DVB TV, around 300 people were killed in Myanmar “due to flooding and landslides since the remnants of Typhoon Yagi arrived in the country on Sept. 9.”

Myanmar has already been affected by the ongoing conflict since February 2021, with opposition armed groups attacking the junta forces that rule the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation, primarily in northern Myanmar, including Shan and Rakhine states.

In northern Thailand, heavy rains and flooding have severely affected nearly 64,000 children, while in Laos around 60,000 children have been affected as typhoon damaged infrastructure, threatening the livelihoods of communities already struggling to cope with negative climate impacts, said the UN body.

So far, 21 people were killed and 26 are still missing in the Philippines.

Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub launch

Webinar

The Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub is an initiative to address the urgent global issue of modern slavery within the context of climate-induced migration. This event will launch the hub and bring together leading experts in climate change, migration and human rights.

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 - 
1-2pm BST (GMT+1)
Online, via Zoom
Register via Eventbrite
Check out the climate change and modern slavery hub
Last updated 18 September 2024



More than 650k Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since August 2017, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, more than half of them women and girls (Photo: UN Women, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)


The intersection of climate change, migration and modern slavery is complex and poorly understood. This knowledge gap results in inadequate policies and programmes to protect vulnerable populations.

The Climate Change & Modern Slavery hub, co-developed by IIED, Anti-Slavery International and Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, brings together existing evidence on these links, aiming to support informed decision-making and reduce vulnerability to all forms of modern slavery in the context of climate change.

The hub was designed to equip policymakers, researchers and practitioners with the knowledge and tools to address this growing crisis. The hub will:Provide a comprehensive knowledge base on the links between climate change, migration and modern slavery
Offer an interactive map and resources for easy access to information
Support policymakers, researchers and practitioners in developing effective strategies
Highlight gaps in current understanding and areas for further research, and
Promote the integration of modern slavery considerations in climate change actions.

This event will provide an opportunity to explore the critical intersections between climate-induced migration and modern slavery, and learn about the new tools for researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
AgendaKeynote speech by Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
Overview of the Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub
Presentation of the key findings of the hub
Expert panel discussion with representatives from Anti-Slavery International, IIED and OKUP
Question-and-answer session

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Over 5,000 civilians killed since Myanmar military coup


UN
17 September 2024

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, issued its latest report on Myanmar on Tuesday, detailing a range of serious violations that continue to underscore the deepening crisis and lack of rule of law throughout the country.


At least 5,350 civilians have been killed, and more than 3.3 million displaced, since the military seized power on 1 February 2021, and over half the population is living below the poverty line mainly due to violence perpetrated by the national armed forces.

Furthermore, nearly 27,400 people have been arrested, and numbers have been rising since the implementation of mandatory conscription this past February.


Devastation, destruction and deprivation

“The reportOpens in new window looks at the devastating impact of the violence, destruction and deprivation on people’s mental health, as well as the regression in economic and social rights, which is precipitating further economic decline,” OHCHROpens in new window spokesperson Liz Throssell told journalists in Geneva.

Meanwhile, “young people, who provide the key to Myanmar’s future, are fleeing abroad to escape being forced to serve in or fight for the military,” she added.
Deaths in custody

OHCHR said credible sources indicate that at least 1,853 people have died in custody since the coup, including 88 children and 125 women.

“Many of these individuals have been verified as dying after being subjected to abusive interrogation, other ill-treatment in detention, or denial of access to adequate healthcare,” Ms. Throssell said.

‘Depraved’ torture methods

Torture and ill-treatment in military custody are pervasive, according to the report. James Rodehaver, head of the UN human rights Myanmar team, listed some of the methods.

“The introduction of animals such as snakes or insects or other. Wild animals in order to provoke fear and terror in individuals. Beating people with iron poles, bamboo sticks, batons, rifle butts, leather strips, electric wires, motorcycle chains, asphyxiation, mock executions, electrocution and burning with tasers, lighters, cigarettes and boiling water.

“Truly, some of the most depraved behaviour utilized as methods of torture in these detention centres,” he said.


Hold perpetrators to account

OHCHR called for all those responsible for gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Myanmar to be held to account.

Ms. Throssell noted that in light of the report’s findings, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on the Security CouncilOpens in new window to refer the full scope of the current situation to the International Criminal CourtOpens in new window (ICC).

“He reiterates his calls for an end to the violence and for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained,” she said.

Source URL
Over 5,000 civilians killed since Myanmar military coup

Myanmar’s military intensifying killing and torture of civilians, UN says

UN report finds 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup in February 2021.

Members of the Myanmar military march at a parade ground to mark Independence Day in Naypyidaw [File: AFP]

Published On 17 Sep 2024

Myanmar’s military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents with tens of thousands of people arrested since a 2021 coup, a United Nations report finds.

The military seized power in February that year, deposing the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering nationwide street protests that it violently crushed.

The protest movement has since turned into a widening armed rebellion, and fighting has flared on multiple fronts, prompting authorities to introduce conscription in February.

On Tuesday, a report issued by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, said 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup. The report was based partly on remote interviews with hundreds of victims and witnesses because investigators are denied access.

Of those deaths, 2,414 people died in the latest reporting period from April 2023 to June 2024, an increase of 50 percent compared with the previous reporting period. Hundreds were killed in air and artillery attacks.

“Myanmar is plumbing the depths of the human rights abyss,” said James Rodehaver, head of the UN rights office’s Myanmar team.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Rodehaver noted: “Myanmar’s military has created the crisis by instrumentalising the legal system, criminalising nearly all forms of dissent against its attempts to rule the country.”

The UN report also revealed that nearly 27,400 people have been arrested since the coup and are thought to be in military training centres.

Among those seized by authorities are children who were taken when the parents could not be located “as a form of punishment for political opposition”, the report said.

UN rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell told a news conference that at least 1,853 people have also died in custody since the coup, including 88 children.

“Many of these individuals have been verified as dying after being subjected to abusive interrogation, other ill-treatment in detention or denial of access to adequate healthcare,” she said.

Rodehaver added: “Detainees interviewed by our office describe methods such as being suspended from the ceiling without food or water, being forced to kneel or crawl on hard or sharp objects, the introduction of animals such as snakes or insects or other wild animals in order to provoke fear and terror in individuals.”

Others, he said, described beatings with iron poles, bamboo sticks, batons, rifle butts, leather strips, electric wires and motorcycle chains.

Myanmar’s military has not yet responded to the UN report.

Turk repeated a recommendation that the rights violations in Myanmar be referred to the International Criminal Court.

 

Brazil banned X. Right-wing politicians are still using it

Echoing Elon Musk, the politicians claim they are defending free speech.

Emily Scherer for Rest of World

By LAÍS MARTINS and DANIELA DIB
16 SEPTEMBER 2024 • SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL


Many left-wing and progressive politicians in Brazil migrated to Bluesky after X was banned, but at least a dozen right-wing politicians are still active on X.
Experts say this online split between right- and left-leaning users in Brazil could prove problematic.

Brazil’s Supreme Court banned X on August 30 after the company failed to comply with a court order to appoint a local legal representative.

The decision was the culmination of a months-long feud between Elon Musk, X’s owner, and Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading a forceful campaign against political disinformation.

Overnight, Brazil’s 22 million X users no longer had access to the platform. Those who log on using VPNs risk fines of up to 50,000 reais a day (around $9,000). This hasn’t stopped prominent right-wing politicians in Brazil from continuing to post to protest the ban.

Rest of World has identified a dozen right-wing politicians, including the sons of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who are still active on X. They are mostly challenging the court’s decision and attacking de Moraes on the platform. In her recent posts on X, Carla Zambelli, a federal congresswoman, has repeatedly urged members of congress to call for de Moraes’ impeachment. Marcel van Hattem, a federal deputy, has drawn attention to other controversial rulings by de Moraes.

All together, these 24 politicians are followed by 26 million users on X. Eduardo Girão, a senator from the state of Ceará, told Rest of World that right-wing and independent members of Parliament are coordinating to continue posting on the platform.

“I will continue posting because I believe it’s disrespectful to the Constitution to curtail a platform where the entire world is connected,” Girão said.

The politicians characterize Judge de Moraes as a dangerous authoritarian who is threatening free speech. “Hi, Kamala. I see you enjoy talking about dictators. I’m currently forced to use a VPN to post on X at the moment and I may be fined for this cause we are in an actual dictatorship in Brazil right now. What do you have to say about Lula & the Brazilian [sic] Supreme Court?” Federal Deputy Nikolas Ferreira posted three days after the ban.

Left-wing and progressive politicians in Brazil are largely migrating to Bluesky, a competing microblogging platform. About 85% of Bluesky’s new users since August 30 have come from Brazil. But right-wing politicians are gaining support on X. Ferreira shared that within just a few days of the ban, he gained about 60,000 new followers. “The tirants [sic] tried to silence us and ended up spreading our voices to the world,” he posted.

This online split between right- and left-leaning users in Brazil could prove problematic, according to Nina Santos, director of Aláfia Lab and coordinator of Desinformante, a research laboratory studying the impact of the digital world, online racism, and disinformation.

“This phenomenon could be very dangerous in terms of building a common space for debate.”

“If we move in the direction of having platforms more identified with the left and platforms more identified with the right, this phenomenon could be very dangerous in terms of building a common space for debate,” Santos told Rest of World.

Despite de Moraes’ threat to identify users employing VPNs, doing so is not easy. In an article for The Intercept Brazil, Isabela Fernandes, the executive director of Tor Project, which offers free software that enables anonymous browsing and communication, called the VPN fines “unenforceable.” Fernandes said that such a decision would require the cooperation of VPN providers with Brazilian courts and that many services, including Tor, don’t even store user data.

VPNs and anonymous browsers are commonly used to circumvent bans on online platforms — especially in authoritarian contexts. In 2021, Myanmar’s military junta ordered mobile operators and internet service providers to block access to X, then called Twitter, after a military coup. However, millions of citizens kept posting. According to a report from Access Now, the Myanmar police have resorted to conducting random phone checks. If they find a VPN app, they may arrest the phone’s owner under anti-terrorism laws.

In the case of Brazil, the ban on X was issued from the judiciary rather than executive or military rulers.

Santos, the disinformation researcher, thinks it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will backtrack on its decision.

On September 2, a group of four other Supreme Court justices voted to uphold de Moraes’ unilateral decision. “It also seems that X is not willing to renegotiate,” she added. In the long run, even users with VPNs are likely to fall off. “As more time passes, it seems to me less likely that people will make an effort to be on that platform.”
Laís Martins was a Labor x Tech Reporting Fellow at Rest of World based in São Paulo, Brazil.
Daniela Dib is a reporter for Rest of World covering the tech and startup scene in Latin America. She is based in Mexico City.

CLIMATE CRISIS: FLOODS

Myanmar villagers battle to save rice crop as flood death toll jumps to 226

Loikaw (Myanmar) (AFP) – War-weary Myanmar villagers salvaged crops from flooded fields Tuesday as the country's death toll in the wake of Typhoon Yagi doubled to 226 and the UN warned as many as 630,000 people could need assistance.


Issued on: 17/09/2024 - 

Farmers carry bags of rice as they evacuate their homes near Phayarphyu village in Loikaw township in Myanmar's Karenni state © STR / AFP

Yagi swept across northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar more than a week ago with powerful winds and an enormous amount of rain, triggering floods and landslides that have killed more than 500 people, according to official figures.

State TV in junta-ruled Myanmar confirmed 226 fatalities late on Monday, with 77 people missing, doubling the previous toll of 113.

The crisis has only deepened people's miseries in Myanmar, where millions have suffered through more than three years of war since the military seized power in 2021.

In Loikaw district in eastern Kayah state -- which has seen fierce fighting between junta forces and armed groups opposed to its rule -- villagers rued their latest trial.

"We have already faced wars and fled from villages many times," local Chit Thein told AFP.

"We have many troubles and now it's floods again -- so much suffering in our lives."

In nearby fields, farmers laboured to save a rice crop completely submerged in paddies by the floodwaters.

More than 150,000 homes have been flooded and nearly 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) of rice paddies and other crops destroyed, according to Myanmar state media.

The junta has begun relief efforts, opening more than 400 camps according to state media, and appealed for international aid.

But in Loikaw district, Chit Thein said the people of Phayarphyu village were still waiting for help.

"There are many things we have lost. We lost houses, clothes in the wars, and now floods have hit our house so we have nothing left," he said.

"We are sheltering at a monastery. But there is not much food for us and no donations, and no-one has come to help us."

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said an estimated 631,000 people had been affected by flooding across Myanmar.

Food, drinking water, shelter and clothes are all urgently needed, UNOCHA said, warning blocked roads and damaged bridges were all severely hampering relief efforts.

The UN's World Food Programme on Monday said the floods were the worst in Myanmar's recent history, without giving precise details.

Homes surrounded by flood waters in Phayarphyu village following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Yagi © STR / AFP

Severe flooding hit the country in 2011 and 2015, with more than 100 deaths reported on both occasions, while in 2008 Cyclone Nargis left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.

The junta issued a rare appeal for foreign aid at the weekend, with neighbour India so far the only country to respond, sending 10 tonnes of materials, including dry rations, clothing and medicine.

UNOCHA said more resources are urgently needed.

In recent years Myanmar's military has blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad, including after powerful Cyclone Mocha last year when it suspended travel authorisations for aid groups trying to reach around a million people.

Even before the latest floods, people in Myanmar were grappling with the effects of three years of war between the junta and armed groups opposed to its rule, with millions forced from their homes by the conflict.
Thailand compensation

Across southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee over the past week as Yagi rains swelled rivers and creeks beyond bursting point.

Many had to wade through murky brown waters up their chins, while others used whatever means they could -- including elephants in Myanmar and jetskis in Thailand.

Thailand's northern provinces were hit hard, with one district reporting its worst inundations in 80 years.

The death toll in the kingdom rose to 15 on Tuesday, according to new figures from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's government said it would make $90 million available for flood relief, announcing financial aid of up to $6,000 per household for those affected by the floods.

In Vietnam, the death toll stands at 292, with 38 missing, more than 230,000 homes damaged and 280,000 hectares of crops destroyed, according to authorities.

Yagi, the strongest typhoon to hit the north of the country in decades, tore across the densely populated Red River delta -- a vital agricultural region that is also home to major manufacturing hubs -- damaging factories and infrastructure, and inundating farmland.

The typhoon caused an estimated 40 trillion dong ($1.6 billion) in economic losses, state media reported, citing an initial government assessment.

burs-pdw/fox

© 2024 AFP

17 dead as central Europe braces for more 'apocalyptic' floods, evacuations 

The border areas between Poland and Czech Republic were hit the hardest over the weekend due to flooding. Poland's government announced that it has set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) to help victims.


A drone view shows a flooded area in Glucholazy, Poland.

Reuters
UPDATED: Sep 17, 2024


In ShortBorder areas between Poland, Czech Republic hit hardest over the weekend
Poland government sets aside 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) to help victims
Affected countries to seek EU aid


Residents of several areas of Poland and the Czech Republic rushed to evacuate on Monday as others in central Europe began cleaning up after the worst flooding in over two decades left a trail of destruction and a rising number of deaths.

Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit hard over the weekend as heavy rain that has fallen since last week and surging water levels collapsed some bridges, forced evacuations and damaged cars and houses.
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At least 17 people have died in flooding from Romania to Poland in the past few days. On Monday afternoon, the mayor of Nysa, a town of more than 40,000 people in southern Poland, called on residents to evacuate immediately after a nearby floodbank was damaged.

In the northeastern Czech city of Ostrava, a broken barrier on the Odra river at its confluence with the Opava river caused flooding of the city's industrial area, including the BorsodChem chemical plant, coking plant OKK Koksovny and others. Hundreds of people were being evacuated from more residential areas as well.

In the Czech town of Litovel, 70% of which was submerged by water up to a metre deep (3.2 feet) on Monday, residents described their fear as waters rose quickly over the weekend.

"I was just very, very afraid... I ran away because the water was rising very quickly near the house," said Renata Gaborova, 39.

'APOCALYPSE'

Poland's government announced a state of natural disaster in affected areas and said that it had set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) to help victims.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in touch with the leaders of other affected countries and that they would ask the European Union for financial aid.

Szymon Krzysztan, 16, standing in the town square of Ladek Zdroj, described losses from the floods as "unimaginable".
"It's a city like in an apocalypse... It's a ghost town," he said.

Reuters footage showed the town strewn with debris and mud.

"Armageddon... It literally ripped out everything because we don't have a single bridge. In Ladek, all the bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world," Jerzy Adamczyk, 70, told Reuters.

In Jesenik, a Czech town across the border that was inundated on Sunday, a clean-up was started after waters receded to show damaged cars and debris on the streets.

"There were two metres of water that ran through the street... There are many, many destroyed cars," said resident Zdenek Kuzilek. "Telephones are not working, there is no water, no electricity."

In eastern Romania, where villages and towns were submerged over the weekend, Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Conachi, told Romanian television some people had been left with just the clothes they had on.

While water was receding in some areas, others, including Wroclaw, a Polish city of some 600,000 people, were shoring up defences for floodwaters heading their way.

In Romania, flooding has killed seven people over the last few days. An Austrian firefighter died on Sunday. In the state of Lower Austria that surrounds Vienna, two men aged 70 and 80 were found drowned in their homes, a police spokesperson said on Monday.

Polish police said four people died as a result of floods in Poland, and in the Czech Republic three have died, a police official said.
Slovakia's capital Bratislava and the Hungarian capital Budapest were both preparing for possible flooding as the River Danube rose.

Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said efforts were focused on keeping the river and its tributaries within its banks and said up to 12,000 soldiers were on standby to help.

In Austria, the levels of rivers and reservoirs fell overnight as rain eased, but officials said they were bracing for a second wave as heavier rain was expected.

Published By:
Nakul Ahuja

 

Nigeria: Severe Flooding in Northeast Nigeria Impacts One Million, Sparks Disease, Food Shortage Fears

WFP

Azimi Abubakar, 50, a resident of Gasamu, wades through the floodwater in Jakusko 

LGA of Yobe State, Nigeria (file photo).

17 September 2024

Radio France Internationale

By Melissa Chemam With RFI

Severe flooding continues to wreak havoc in northeastern Nigeria, impacting over one million people and raising concerns about the spread of diseases and widespread food shortages. Authorities are currently working to coordinate relief efforts for those affected by the disaster.

The crisis was caused by torrential rains, which caused a dam to overflow, flooding vast regions and affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Among the impacted areas was a state-owned zoo, releasing crocodiles and snakes into nearby communities overwhelmed by the rising waters.

The dam was damaged in Alau, near Maiduguri, on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres south of Maiduguri, on 9 September.

Over the weekend, an additional 50,000 people were displaced in northeastern Nigeria as the floods intensified, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Monday.

Local authorities are mobilising aid for the disaster victims, but the scale of need is overwhelming, and healthcare workers are concerned about the potential for an outbreak of disease.

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Accept Manage my choices Displacement and disease

The United Nations coordinator in the country, Mohamed Malick Fall visited the region over the weekend, and reported that "a good half of the city [Maiduguri] is impacted."

"At least 400,000 people in the city are affected, with enormous health needs," Malick Fall told RFI. "The need for latrines, access to drinking water and food as well. My big fear now is to see an epidemic of cholera or another water-borne disease."

The flood has killed at least 30 people according to Nigeria's emergency agency and affected a million others, with thousands of people forced into camps for displaced people.

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Accept Manage my choices The authorities first set up eight camps to accommodate people displaced by the disaster.

The figure rose to "30 camps around the city" of Maiduguri, Trond Jensen, head of OCHA, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in Nigeria, told RFI on Monday.

But according to the NGO Save The Children, some other families "are still trapped in their homes" and the city's two main hospitals are flooded.

They are exposed to waterborne diseases, and diarrhoea, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres; malaria is around with a lot of mosquitoes.

The floods are described as the worst in 30 years, by the local authorities.

In one of the camps, Bintu Amadu was among hundreds of frustrated people waiting for hours to see a doctor because her son had diarrhoea.

"We have not received any aid, and our attempts to see a doctor have been unsuccessful. We have been waiting for medical attention since yesterday, but to no avail," she said.

Hunger risks

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that "more than 550,000 hectares of agricultural land have been flooded" this year across the country, especially in the Northeast, where malnutrition is already chronic because of the insecurity that reigns in this region.

Mathias Goemaere, a field coordinator for MSF, said that even before the floods, residents in Borno were struggling with malnutrition, following years of the Islamist insurgency that has driven people from their farms.

Meals, shelter and basic necessities are gradually being distributed, but "it's a race against time to help the victims," warned the United Nations coordinator, Malick Fall.

"This crisis comes on top of the one linked to the Boko Haram, which has already displaced many people," for 15 years," he said.

In the last two weeks of August, more than 1.5 million people were displaced across 12 countries in West and Central Africa due to floods, and about 465 have been killed, according to the United Nations humanitarian affairs office.

Prison break

The city centre of Maiduguri was not spared: the market, schools, administrative buildings were hit by the floods.

Last week, as the rains continued to pour, over 280 prisoners even managed to escape a jail in Maiduguri, when its walls collapsed.

Seven of the escaped inmates have been recaptured in operations by security agencies, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement.

"The floods brought down the walls of the correctional facilities including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as the staff quarters in the city," Abubakar said.

Operations to recapture the remainder of the inmates are underway.

(with newswires)

Read or Listen to this story on the RFI website.