DUBAI, 23 April 2007 (IRIN) -
DUBAI, 23 April 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS IRAQ: Thousands without food and supplies due to failing distribution system
IRAQ: Sexual cleansing - Gov't denies gays are targets of killings
IRAQ: UN
conference on refugees raises hopes
IRAQ: Insecurity and lack of funds prevent cleansing of polluted sites
IRAQ: Doctors warn of summer dehydration among children and the elderly
IRAQ: Thousands
missing since war began
ISRAEL-OPT: "Poor medical treatment" for prisoners in Israel
OPT: Evacuated Bedouin need medicine and blankets
YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: 130 migrants die after coast guards open
fire
YEMEN: Anti-polio campaign kicks off
YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: Government combats wheat killer disease
ERITREA-YEMEN: New locust swarms threaten crops IRAQ: Thousands without food and supplies
due to failing distribution system Thousands of Iraqis are going without food and basic supplies as the country's food distribution infrastructure crumbles, according to a new report. The country's
Public Distribution System (PDS), set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme, has been hit by insecurity, poor management, corruption and a lack of political will. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71627 IRAQ: Sexual cleansing - Gov't denies gays are targets of killings The Iraqi lesbian and gay community and NGOs dealing with gay issues have
called for urgent action to protect gays and lesbians in the country. The groups say that the number of victims of "sexual cleansing" is growing on a daily basis. "In the past three months, more
than 30 gays have been executed in Baghdad. The bodies have been found tortured, mutilated - sometimes with signs of rape," said Mustafa Salim, spokesman for the Rainbow for Life Organisation (RLO), a
Baghdad-based gay rights NGO. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71632 IRAQ: UN conference on refugees raises hopes With up to 50,000 Iraqis fleeing their homes every month because of
violence, it is high time the international community did more to settle them and alleviate their suffering, was the key message at a United Nations-hosted conference in Geneva on Tuesday. Organised
by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the two-day event brought together more than 450 representatives of 60 nations to seek ways of addressing the deepening humanitarian crisis of nearly four million
Iraqis who have been displaced by the conflict in their country. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71649 IRAQ: Insecurity and lack of funds prevent cleansing of polluted sites There
are up to 400 polluted sites in Iraq that are serious health hazards to the population and urgently need to be cleaned, according to a specialist in the Iraqi government. But ongoing violence,
particularly the targeting of municipal workers, and a lack of funds is hampering clean-up efforts. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71696 IRAQ: Doctors warn of summer dehydration
among children and the elderly Doctors are warning of a possible increase in diseases among children and the elderly as Iraq's hot summer months begin. Dehydration, cholera and bacterial infections
are of the greatest concern, they say. "The sewage and electrical systems in Iraq have completely deteriorated, worsening the situation, especially for children, as summer begins," said Dr Ibraheem
Kaduri, a paediatrician at the Children Teaching Hospital in the capital, Baghdad. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71703 IRAQ: Thousands missing since war began When 53-year-old
Tina Abdallah celebrated the fall of deceased former President Saddam Hussein in March 2003, she had no idea that her suffering had just begun. Four years on, the mother of two is desperate for news
about her sons who have disappeared in separate incidents following the US-led invasion of 2003. Because of unrelenting violence hampering all efforts to collect data, the number of people who have
disappeared in Iraq since 2003 is not known. But aid workers estimate the figure to be in the tens of thousands. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71668 ISRAEL-OPT: "Poor medical
treatment" for prisoners in Israel Ahmed Tamimi, a Palestinian serving life in an Israeli prison, needs a kidney transplant – but four years after his nephew Amin came forward as a donor, the
Israeli authorities say that they will not pay for the operation. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) medical chief, Alex Adler, told IRIN the IPS would not pay for the transplant because Tamimi does
not need it urgently. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71655 OPT: Evacuated Bedouin need medicine and blankets Hundreds of Bedouin families living in tents after their north Gaza
village was flooded with sewage are in urgent need of medicine and blankets, the UN and local doctors have warned. (See photo slideshow) Three hundred families are living in tents pitched on high
ground near Umm Nasser, the village that was flooded after a filtration basin broke, sending thousands of cubic metres of sewage into the village on 27 March. Five residents were killed in the flood
and 18 more were injured. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71623 YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: 130 migrants die after coast guards open fire Somali community leaders in Sana'a said on
Saturday that 130 African migrants died at sea when their boat capsized off the Yemeni coast after coast guards opened fire on them. "As the smuggling boats entered the Yemeni waters, coast guards
began firing on them, causing one boat to capsize," Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee affairs in the Somali community in Sana'a, told IRIN. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71614 YEMEN:
Anti-polio campaign kicks off Yemen's Ministry of Health and Population in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday began a three-day sub-national polio immunisation drive in
eight provinces. The campaign is targeting 1.3 million children who are under five years of age. About 22,000 health workers and volunteers are participating, moving from house to house in the
provinces of Sana'a, Taiz, al-Baidha, Mareb, al-Jawf, Saada and Shabwa, in addition to the capital city, Sana'a. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71642 YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA:
Government combats wheat killer disease Yemen's government has launched a campaign to combat a virulent and potentially devastating wheat disease after the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) recently warned of its spread to the Arabian Peninsular from east Africa. "Yemen, in particular, should be on the alert, step up field monitoring and training and prepare for
direct control interventions in disease hot spots," FAO said in a statement on 12 April. "Most important, control measures in affected countries should include the introduction of more resistant wheat
varieties and restricting planting dates to break the disease cycle." http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71677 ERITREA-YEMEN: New locust swarms threaten crops The Yemeni
government is concerned that new swarms of locusts in the south of the country, and the billions of offspring they are likely to have, will have a devastating effect on crop harvests. According to
the Desert Locusts Control Centre (DLCC) at the Ministry of Agriculture, over the past few days mature desert locusts have descended over 30 sq km in Thamoud, a desert area in the southern province of
Hadhramout. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71699
