Alex Klaushofer
Alex Klaushofer is a freelance journalist writing on social affairs and politics in Britain and the Middle East. She has previously worked as Middle East communications manager for Christian Aid, and has a particular interest in humanitarian issues. She is author of "Paradise Divided: A Portrait of Lebanon".
Why is it taking so long to get aid to Congo?
After years as one of the world's most under-reported crises, it looks as though the conflict in eastern Congo is finally attracting the attention it deserves, with the past week's fighting regularly getting top billing in the media. With at least 200,000 refugees from the violence crammed in camps around Goma, the scenes that have unfurled on our TV screens night after night have been heartbreaking. Hundreds of hungry civilians wait in vain for aid, telling reporters they haven't eaten for days. Some of the displaced are going home to the heart of the fighting rather than risk starvation in a safe place. ...
Aid workers say Honduran floods worse than Hurricane Mitch
With tens of thousands of Hondurans displaced by floods, the emergency response is in full swing, as aid agencies and donors work out what's needed, distribute relief and ask for funds. Aid workers agree the flooding is the worst the country has experienced since Hurricane Mitch which killed about 10,000 people across Central America a decade ago. ...
Aid agencies must pressure donors for cash, experts say
Aid agencies must step up pressure on donors to keep their promises to tackle world hunger amid fears that global financial turmoil will sideline the food crisis, experts say. In recent weeks, investors have lost confidence in banks, forcing governments to pledge hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money to stabilise their financial systems. ...
Feeding the killers: Uganda aid row begs tough questions
It's an apparently trivial spat in one of Africa's many under-reported conflicts. Uganda's government is accusing aid agency Caritas of supplying Lord's Resistance Army rebels with food, thereby helping prolong the country's 20-year insurgency, according to a report in New Vision newspaper. ...
The untold story of India's floods
The humanitarian needs created by the worst floods in the eastern Indian state of Bihar for 50 years are outstripping government and agencies' ability to cope, aid workers say. A week ago, the Kosi river in neighbouring Nepal burst its banks and forged a new course through Bihar, submerging hundreds of villages in the five districts of Supaul, Madhepura, Sharsa, Madhubani and Bhagalpur. According to the latest estimates, over 2 million people have been displaced and a quarter of a million homes have been destroyed. ...
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