Louis Belanger

Millions of people across the Sahel will be left hungry in the coming months unless multi-million dollar funding shortage for crisis response is filled, aid agencies warn today. Action Against Hunger, Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision are aiming to provide...

Renewed military action against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) risks triggering further devastation for local people in DR of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan unless more is done to protect civilians and prevent LRA's retaliations. The warning comes on the day the San Diego-based group Invisible Children is...

The future is looking increasingly and dangerously uncertain for millions of ordinary Afghans. The recent series of horrific incidents -- from violent demonstrations condemning the burning of the Quran to a chilling attack on civilians apparently perpetrated by a lone US soldier -- illustrate just how precarious life has become.

Growing insecurity in Mali and northern Nigeria is disrupting the supply of food to communities suffering from a major food crisis affecting 13 million people in West Africa.

The conflict in northern Mali, one of the driving factors of last week's coup d'état and the temporary closure of borders, had...

Aid agency Oxfam launches $37m emergency appeal to help 1 million of the most vulnerable in West and Central Africa

Some 13 million people are at severe risk from a food crisis which is set to escalate into a full scale humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of...

I met Aydrus last December in Nairobi. He had just come back from Somalia where his organization is doing life-saving work with local communities via preventive work and other great programs. WASDA has been present and operating in Somalia for years and we are proud to call them an Oxfam...

This Thursday, 23 February, heads of state, Ban Ki-moon and other delegates will meet in London to discuss the security threats posed by Somalia and the future of its Government. My colleague Edward Pomfret looks at what needs to happen at the conference and why listening to concerns...

During a 48 hours visit to the Gorgol region of Mauritania, Senegalese musician Baaba Maal discovered the harsh reality for communities affected by a food crisis that now touches one in four people across the country. Today 700,000 people are food insecure in Mauritania.

"What is happening...

Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate the tragic impact of the unregulated arms trade and the urgent need for a strong Arms Trade Treaty, according to a coalition of non-governmental organizations ahead of crucial talks in New York this week.

The group says...

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters.

The warning comes from international...

This year, the Sahel region of West Africa is once again likely to face a serious food crisis that could, if early and effective action is not taken, prove as costly to lives and livelihoods as the past food crises in 2005, 2008 and 2010. Every year, these crises affected...

Since the Syrian uprising began last March, Syrian security forces have killed at least 5,000, according the United Nations. Most of these were unarmed protestors. Many thousands more people have been imprisoned without trial, and torture of prisoners is widely reported.

As a response to the repression of protestors,...

Women from Blue Nile State struggle to survive

By Surendrini Wijeyaratne of Oxfam International

Juba: Arriving in Mina transit camp in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, I am surrounded by hundreds of women and men who'd just arrived from Khartoum and were now busily off-loading packed buses of household items...

Police abuses need to be tackled as Afghan conflict reaches tenth year

The Afghan army and especially the police are still not ready to properly safeguard civilians, as 20,000 police have yet to receive training and the force routinely does not investigate civilian deaths at its own...

By Chee Chee Leung, Media Coordinator at Oxfam Australia, in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya

For most Muslims around the world, this week's Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan, was a time for celebration.

But for refugees I met in Dadaab, it was just another week of...

The region of Turkana, in the North of Kenya has gone for over five years without a good rain capable of making the grazing lands grow enough grass to feed the region's livestock, its sole source of economic livelihood.

It is just one of many regions in the Horn...

I just arrived in Nairobi from the States and it's now been more than 10 days since parts of Somalia were announced by the United Nations to have reached famine level. As aid workers, the "F" word hits us hard.

A famine? How did we get there? How did...

Momentum builds up as key states, survivors, investors' group, and industry give full backing for global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)

Diplomats at the United Nations' talks on the future Arms Trade Treaty have made serious progress this week with a growing number of key countries bringing their support to the...

The Group also warns of reputational and regulatory risks for companies in the defense industry.

This week, 24 UN PRI signatories (Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative is a network of international investors ) with over US$ 1.2 trillion in assets under management called for a strong, legally binding and comprehensive...

What is unfolding in Eastern Africa is the worst food crisis to hit the region in decades and Oxfam is concerned that large numbers of lives could soon be lost. Two successive poor rains, entrenched poverty, conflict and lack of investment have pushed 12 million people into a fight for...