South Sudan's Most Vulnerable

By Danielle Batist

JUBA, Sep 29 2011 (Street News Service) - At first sight, the village of Rokwe on the outskirts of Juba looks like any other village in South Sudan. The sun shines bright on the grass roofs of the mud huts and sounds from a church choir practicing can be heard in the distance. Only the scenery at the local health center gives away that this is no ordinary place.

Dozens of patients seek shelter from the sun on the concrete veranda. Many have more than one disfigured limb. Some are able to move around, others struggle to walk. Rokwe is a colony for leprosy patients.

Erkolan Onyara was only 13 when he discovered a few sore spots on his legs. He did not know what they were, and when more painful spotting appeared all over his body, he showed his mother. Recognizing the symptoms from her own illness, she got very upset. Erkolan – just like her – had leprosy.

Soon, he lost sensation in the affected skin areas and the wounds started to get infected. By the time his illness got worse, his mother had passed away.

Not knowing how they could care for Erkolan, the family heard of a village where people with leprosy were taken care of by a group of church brothers. Erkolan’s elder brother brought him to Rokwe in 1976 and the St Martin De Porres Brothers accepted him in the colony.

Erkolan remembers his first months in the village like it was yesterday. “I was all alone and I felt scared. I did not know anyone and I did not know what was happening to my body. It was a difficult time for me.”

Like many leprosy sufferers, Erkolan was losing sensation in his hands and feet, leading him to often cut himself or injure his feet while walking. When he was 19 years old, disaster struck. “I was cooking dinner and tried to grab a pot that was on the fire. I did not feel the heat and both my hands burnt very badly. I lost my fingers and part of my hands.”

Life as a young boy in the colony was a struggle for Erkolan. With the help of some of the Brothers he had built a small tukul (mud hut), but as a boy alone he had trouble feeding himself.

“I could not work because of my disfigurement. I went fishing in the Nile sometimes or tried to grow some crops to eat, but often I was hungry.” One of the Sisters from a nearby parish used to visit Erkolan and help him with basics like cooking and laundry.

The small health centre the Brothers ran from within the colony was chronically under-resourced. The ongoing war made the supply of medicine unstable. Still, they were determined to treat the village’s patients and cure them of their leprosy. Erkolan was cured in 1986, but the disease had taken its toll on the young man’s body: his hands were badly disfigured and he missed several toes, causing him instability when walking.

The medical breakthrough in the battle against leprosy came in 1981, when a World Health Organization Study Group on Chemotherapy of Leprosy prescribed the use of a multidrug therapy (MDT) as the standard treatment for the disease.

Despite being cured of leprosy, most of the patients stayed on in the village. Their often severe disabilities made life in one of the poorest regions in the world even harder for them than for most other people. And in the middle of the brutal civil war, the colony too many felt like the safest place to stay.

Brother Bruno Dada has been working in the colony for the past 23 years. He says fighting did happen around the village over the years, especially since the army built military barracks very close to the colony.

However, the stigma against leprosy has in some way protected the 350-strong village from the violent raids many other places in the area endured. Soldiers used to ignore the village because they believed there was nothing there to plunder. They were also afraid to enter the colony as they believed they would catch the disease.

As Brother Bruno puts it: “There is a stigma. People think that they will get leprosy if they shake hands with a patient, whereas in fact, it is impossible to get infected that way. Even if patients’ leprosy has been cured years ago, many people are still afraid to go near them.”

Despite the preconceptions, many leprosy patients in Rokwe lived in fear throughout the war. Erkolan expresses the anxiety that was felt by many villagers: “We were always afraid because we knew we were vulnerable. If any fighting did break out, we could not defend ourselves.”

Erkolan married a woman from the village and they still live in the hut he built when he arrived as a young boy. He is the proud father of three boys and three girls, the oldest of whom is now married and has moved away.

If Erkolan could make one miracle happen, it would be for his oldest daughter to finish her education. “We struggled badly for money and had to take her out of school”, he says. “She was a very good student but we just could not provide. We had to send her to get married so that her husband’s family could look after her. I still feel bad about that now.”

A recent gift from an uncle has improved life slightly for Erdokan’s family. He was given an old bicycle, which he uses to go to the forest and collect firewood to sell. “Cycling for me is easier than walking. I can carry the wood on the bike to the roadside. I don’t sell a lot but sometimes I get a few (Sudanese) pounds.”

Whilst most South Sudanese are hopeful about the future of their country, independent since July, Erkolan can’t help but be skeptical. “There has been no development here for so long. No government cares for us. I hope things will change but we will have to wait and see.”

According to the WHO there has been a dramatic decrease in leprosy cases in the past decades – from 5.2 million cases worldwide in 1985 to 805,000 in 1995 and 213,036 cases at the end of 2008. However, more than 200,000 new cases are still reported each year, mostly in poverty-stricken places like Sudan.

In Rokwe, the lack of government support for the leprosy patients and their families has to some extent been compensated by the work of international aid organizations.

During the war, the World Food Program and a charity group supplied meals in the colony. Although occasional new cases of leprosy still emerge, the disease is largely under control in the region, thanks to a widespread treatment campaign which cures patients fast and stops spread of the disease.

But for people like Erkolan and others in the leper colony, the treatment came too late. Their illness might be under control, but the damage to their limbs cannot be undone.

The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), with the assistance of Sudanaid, supports some of the poorest sufferers and their families. They provided them with non-food items including 481 mosquito nets, 400 cooking pans, 400 sleeping mats, 400 blankets and 400 jerry cans for fetching water.

SCIAF is currently working on a new project with the Brothers to provide income-generating opportunities for residents and to set up a vocational training centre. They also help improve the housing situation for villagers in most urgent need of a new tukul or repairs to stop leaking in the rainy season.

One of the beneficiaries of the house repair scheme is Laurence Modi, 24. His life story – like that of so many in southern Sudan – is intensely sad. He was brought to the colony in the late 1980s by relatives.

Just a toddler, his small body was full of painful wounds that were the starting point of a childhood full of suffering. Both his parents had passed away, and tiny Laurence was dropped in the colony together with his sister, who was barely a teenager. The children moved into an abandoned mud hut and were left to their own devices.

Laurence received treatment from the Brothers to stop his leprosy, but his hands and feet were so badly affected that the simplest tasks like making a fire or digging the ground to cultivate land became impossible. He relied on his sister, who played the role of a mother, despite being only a child herself.

When in 2004 she left the village to get married, Laurence’s small world fell apart. “She was all I had,” he says, fighting back tears as he speaks. “I was really sad when she left.”

Lonely in his tukul, he started worrying about his future. A neighbor had begun to cook him food every day and help him out with household tasks, but he knew this could not go on forever. The grass roof of his tukul was leaking and at night during the rainy season, he often woke up because of the water dripping down inside. He suffered bouts of depression and saw no way out of his problems.

Early this year, one of the Brothers informed Laurence that he had been put on a list for a new roof. “I thought I was dreaming. I worried so much about the house. I was afraid I would have to go and find shelter at other people’s huts. I built this hut with my sister in 2000, we did it all by ourselves. It means a lot to me to live here.”

The prospect of an improved house has given Laurence reason to look towards the future again. When the sun sets over Rokwe each night, Laurence sits in front of his hut and takes a moment to himself. He often dreams of the day he will no longer be by himself. “I would love to find a girlfriend and marry and have children. That is natural. My dream is to improve the house and start a family here.”

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/09/south-sudanrsquos-most-vulnerable/.

Algeria faces new health sector strike

2011-09-29

Algerian healthcare unions threatened new strike actions next month, El Watan reported on Thursday (September 29th). A work stoppage, with the exception of emergencies, is slated for October 9th. The strikes will then increase by one day each week. Healthcare professionals are complaining of unsatisfactory working conditions. Earlier this year, Algerian paramedics staged a 2-day walkout to demand that the government comply with its promise to implement a salary-related "special status" change.

Source: Magharebia.

Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/29/newsbrief-04.

Iran sends cruise missiles to its navy

Sept. 28, 2011

TEHRAN, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Cruise missiles with a range of 124 miles were delivered to the Iranian navy to bolster the country's national defense, the military said.

The Iranian Defense Ministry said it supplied "large numbers" of anti-ship cruise missiles to the Iranian navy and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.

Iranian military officials noted, during a ceremony commemorating the delivery, that the cruise missiles were manufactured domestically.

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, the Mehr News Agency in Iran reported, said his country was working on a radar system to counter incoming cruise missile threats. An anti-missile system, he added, is being designed with the aim of retargeting enemy missiles.

Tehran had wanted Russia's S-300 missile defense system to protect its nuclear installations from a possible aerial attack by the Israelis, who bombed an Iraqi nuclear facility in the 1980s.

A 2005 contract signed by Moscow and Tehran outlined terms of the sale of the S-300 missile defense system. The missile system boasts a range of around 100 miles and can engage several targets at once.

However, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an executive order last year prohibiting the sale of military equipment to Iran.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/28/Iran-sends-cruise-missiles-to-its-navy/UPI-13011317217158/.

Health workers given jail terms in Bahrain

Sept. 29, 2011

MANAMA, Bahrain, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A military prosecutor in Bahrain announced charges against 20 healthcare workers for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government.

The group of Bahraini doctors and nurses were given sentences ranging from 5-15 years in prison on charges of "spreading fabricating stories and lies" and gaining access to "unlicensed weapons to topple the regime," the official Bahrain News Agency stated.

All of those sentenced to prison had worked at the Salmaniya medical complex in Manama. Bahraini security forces raided the facility in March as part of a crackdown on a Shiite uprising in the country.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the March 16 seizure by security forces of the hospital as "shocking and illegal conduct."

Human Rights Watch in a 54-page report published early this year said it had documented "serious government abuses" against medics and patients wounded during opposition protests.

In a separate case, BNA said Ali Yusuf Abdulwahab al-Taweel was sentenced to death and Mehdi Ali Attia was given a life-in-prison sentence for their role in the death of a Bahraini police officer.

Human Rights Watch said Washington was sending the wrong message when it authorized a $53 million arms sale to Bahrain. Bahrain was criticized for its response to the uprising.

Bahrain is host to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/29/Health-workers-given-jail-terms-in-Bahrain/UPI-39851317315622/.

Merkel gets a hostile reception on Greek visit

October 09, 2012

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel got a hostile reception from many ordinary Greeks Tuesday when she flew into Athens on her first visit to the country since its debt crisis erupted three years ago.

But she praised the current Greek government for covering "much of the ground" required for recovery. "I hope and wish that Greece remains a member of the eurozone," Merkel said. "As partners, we are working hard to achieve that."

Her visit triggered protests attended by some 50,000 demonstrators in Athens. The rallies were mostly peaceful, but police briefly clashed with several dozen demonstrators and detained nearly 200 people throughout the day.

As Europe's largest contributor to the bailout fund that has rescued Greece from bankruptcy, Germany is viewed by many Greeks as the primary enforcer of the austerity measures the Greek government enacted in exchange for emergency aid.

Debt monitors from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, known as the "troika", will deliver a report within coming weeks on whether Greece should receive its next bailout payment, without which it will go bankrupt.

Merkel, who stopped in Athens for five hours, said the coalition government led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras still had to push through more key cost-cutting reforms. "Much of the ground has been covered ... There is daily progress," Merkel said after talks with Samaras. "This is an effort that should be seen through because otherwise it would make the circumstances even more dramatic later on."

Although the German leader damped expectations in Athens of a stronger message of public support for Greece, Samaras said Merkel's visit had ended "the country's international isolation." Greece has depended on bailouts from Europe and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. To get the loans, it has implemented a series of deep budget cuts and tax hikes, while increasing retirement ages and facilitating private sector layoffs. To date, Greece has received €240 billion ($310 billion) in bailout loans and has renegotiated a €110 billion deal on the repayment of some of its bonds.

However, Athens must pass further austerity measures worth €13.5 billion over the next two years to qualify for its next rescue loan payment — without which the government will run out of cash next month.

Enduring austerity is set to extend Greece's recession to a sixth year in 2013 and push the rate of unemployment up to nearly 25 percent, according to government estimates. "Greece is determined to carry out its commitment and overcome the crisis," Samaras said. "At this moment, the country is bleeding but is determined to remain in the euro ...We are not asking for more money or favors — but only a chance to stand on its feet."

Merkel's stop in Athens was welcomed by the Greek government as a much-needed boost for the country's future in Europe — but protesters viewed it as a harbinger of further austerity and hardship. Dozens of youths broke away from the peaceful rally and threw rocks and flares at riot police, who responded with pepper spray and stun grenades, in clashes that were relatively minor.

More than 7,000 police had cordoned off parks and other sections of city to keep demonstrators away from the German leader. As a helicopter buzzed overhead, thousands of protesters, chanting "History is written by the disobedient" gathered in front of Greek parliament. One group of demonstrators burned a Swastika and threw it onto a police barrier, while a group of special forces reservists appeared in uniform and chanted "Merkel out of Greece" in time to their march.

"I have no doubt that (Merkel) has good intentions, and wants to help, but that won't solve Europe's problem," retired teacher Irini Kourdaki said. "Europe is polarized and ... we need a major change in policy."

Merkel's visit followed a subtle shift in political rhetoric in Germany toward the Greeks, with the chancellor repeating her desire to keep Greece in the eurozone and urging political allies to refrain from public criticism of the Athens government. It appeared that a goal of the trip was to affirm her support for Samaras as Germany's best bet to see through painful structural reforms which the Germans believe are necessary if Greece is to regain economic stability.

That was a marked difference with the tone of statements made last summer, when some Merkel allies were openly dismissive of the Greeks for alleged economic mismanagement. Some politicians even suggested that Greece's departure from the common currency would not produce the economic shock that many fear.

The visit was also likely aimed at preventing the opposition Social Democrats from criticizing her for allegedly failing to display strong personal leadership in the euro crisis in the run-up to national elections expected in about a year.

Merkel told reporters in Athens that the troika report was "taking longer than was originally thought." "But it's better to deal with problems in detail that to try and address them quickly," she said.

A senior Greek government official said rescue creditors had given the country a list of around 90 structural reforms to be approved immediately so that the vital next loan installment could be paid sometime next month.

The official asked not to be named, since talks between Merkel and Samaras were ongoing.

AP writers in Berlin and AP television and photography staff and in Athens contributed.

Red Cross launches first Spain crisis fund

October 10, 2012

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Red Cross on Wednesday launched its first-ever campaign for donations to help Spaniards hit by economic crisis, in a sign of how needy this nation has become.

The Red Cross and other aid groups say soaring unemployment and government austerity measures are leaving tens of thousands of people in need of food and financial help. While the Spanish Red Cross does already help people in the country, its fundraising has always been directed at helping poorer nations.

Wednesday's campaign, titled "Now More than Ever," aims to collect €30 million ($39 million) over two years to help an extra 300,000 people. The agency helped some 2 million in Spain last year, most of whom needed food and financial assistance because of the crisis.

The agency set up collection points in cities across Spain and thousands of volunteers paced the streets seeking contributions. Spokesman Jose Javier Sanchez Espinosa said the crisis "is affecting more sectors of society than before" and that now "even people from the middle class who have lost one or two jobs in their households are finding themselves in need of our help."

On top of this, "25 percent of children are living under the poverty level and old people now have their children and their grandchildren depending on their pensions," he said. Spain is in its second recession in three years, and has near 25 percent unemployment.

The government has introduced a series of austerity measures, involving tax hikes, wage freezes and job cuts as well as labor and financial sector reforms. They're aimed at reducing debt and increasing investor confidence, amid fears that Spain's troubles could hurt the entire eurozone and force it to ask for a public finances bailout too expensive for the zone to handle.

But the measures have so far had little positive effect on the economy, while causing increased hardship for many people. "The situation is getting worse and worse," said Sanchez. The Red Cross campaign coincides with reports by other groups signaling that increasing unemployment and reductions in social services are pushing more people than ever into seeking social and economic aid.

The Catholic Church charity organization Caritas recently reported that last year it helped more than 1 million people, up from 350,000 in 2007. "We find in recent years poverty is intensifying, (and) not just affecting more people but hitting those already suffering even harder," said Caritas' Francisco Lorenzo.

He described the situation in many households as "chronic," pointing out that 52 percent of the nearly 5 million people now out of work have been jobless for more than a year, compared to 23 percent in 2007.

He said this did not just imply reduced income, but also lower morale and motivation to look for work. UNICEF in Spain said Tuesday that latest Eurostat figures show there are 2.3 million children now living below the poverty line in Spain, up by 80,000 from last year.

It said there were now some 760,000 households with children that had no adult working, 46,000 more than last year. Paloma Escudero of UNICEF Spain said it was imperative for the government to take into account the effect its economic measures have on children.

Chavez wins third re-election in tightest race yet

October 08, 2012

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez won re-election and a new endorsement of his socialist project Sunday, surviving his closest race yet after a bitter campaign in which the opposition accused him of unfairly using Venezuela's oil wealth and his near total control of state institutions to his advantage.

A long wait for the results produced high tensions, including a Twitter hashtag called BitingNails that became the most popular in the country. Finally, fireworks exploded over downtown Caracas amid a cacophony of horn-honking by elated Chavez supporters waving flags and jumping for joy outside the presidential palace.

With 90 percent of votes counted, Chavez had more than 54 percent of the vote to 45 percent for challenger Henrique Capriles, an athletic 40-year-old former state governor who unified and energized the opposition while barnstorming across the oil-exporting nation.

But Capriles' promises to seriously address violent crime that has spun out of control, streamline a patronage-bloated bureaucracy and end rampant corruption proved inadequate against Chavez's charisma, well-oiled political machine and a legacy of putting Venezuela's poor first with generous social welfare programs.

Chavez rallied thousands of supporters from a balcony of the presidential palace, holding up a sword that once belonged to 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar. "The revolution has triumphed!" Chavez told the crowd, saying his supporters "voted for socialism."

The crowd responded chanting "Chavez won't go!" Chavez will now have a freer hand to push for an even bigger state role in the economy and continue populist programs. He pledged before the vote to make a stronger push for socialism in the next term. He's also likely to further limit dissent and deepen friendships with U.S. rivals.

A Capriles victory would have brought a radical foreign policy shift including a halt to preferential oil deals with allies such as Cuba, along with a loosening of state economic controls and an increase in private investment.

It was Chavez's third re-election in nearly 14 years in office. It was also his smallest victory margin. In 2006, he won by 27 percentage points. "I can't describe the relief and happiness I feel right now," said Edgar Gonzalez, a 38-year-old construction worker.

He ran through crowds of Chavez supporters packing the streets around the presidential palace wearing a Venezuelan flag as a cape and yelling: "Oh, no! Chavez won't go!" "The revolution will continue, thanks to God and the people of this great country," said Gonzalez.

Voter turnout was an impressive 81 percent, compared to 75 percent in 2006. Chavez paid close attention to his military-like get-out-the-vote organization at the grass roots, stressing its importance at campaign rallies. The opposition said he unfairly plowed millions in state funds into the effort.

Chavez spent heavily in the months before the vote, building public housing and bankrolling expanded social programs. "I think he just cranked up the patronage machine and unleashed a spending orgy," said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

But Shifter also didn't deny the affinity and gratefulness Venezuela's poor feel for Chavez. "Despite his illness, I still think he retains a large emotional connection with a lot of Venezuelans that I think were not prepared to vote against him."

Chavez spoke little during the campaign about his fight with cancer, which since June 2011 has included surgery to remove tumors from his pelvic region as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment. He has said his most recent tests showed no sign of illness.

Capriles told supporters not to feel defeated. "We have planted many seeds across Venezuela and I know that these seeds are going to produce many trees," he told a hall of supporters. Despite winning a February primary that unified the opposition, Capriles proved no match for Chavez's electoral prowess.

David Valencia, a 20-year-old Capriles supporter, said he was disappointed but that he hadn't lost hope despite the loss. "There is still a sense in our hearts of wanting a better country," he said. One pro-Chavez voter, private bodyguard Carlos Julio Silva, said that whatever his faults, Chavez deserved to win for spreading the nation's oil wealth to the poor with free medical care, public housing and other government programs. The country has the world's largest proven oil reserves.

"There is corruption, there's plenty of bureaucracy, but the people have never had a leader who cared about this country," Silva said after voting for Chavez at a school in the Caracas slum of Petare.

At many polling places, voters began lining up hours before polls opened at dawn, some snaking for blocks in the baking Caribbean sun. Some shaded themselves with umbrellas. Vendors grilled meat and some people drank beer.

Chavez's critics say the president has inflamed divisions by labeling his opponents "fascists," ''Yankees" and "neo-Nazis," and it's likely hard for many of his opponents to stomach another six years of the loquacious and conflictive leader.

Some said before the vote that they'd consider leaving the country if Chavez won. Gino Caso, an auto mechanic, said Chavez is power-hungry and out of touch with problems such as crime. He said his son had been robbed, as had neighboring shops.

"I don't know what planet he lives on," Caso said, gesturing with hands blackened with grease. "He wants to be like Fidel Castro — end up with everything, take control of the country."

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez, Christopher Toothaker, Jorge Rueda and Vivian Sequera contributed to this report.