Massive Displacement expected as Mosul Offensive Begins

Aid agencies have been warning for months that the fallout from an offensive would the largest and most complex humanitarian operation of the year. Yet so far, the international community has not provided sufficient backing for the humanitarian response.  “Despite generous contributions from donor countries, funding has been insufficient to prepare fully for the worst-case scenario,” O’Brien stated yesterday. In June, as it became clear that an attack on Mosul was being prepared, the UN launched a flash appeal of $280 million to prepare for the humanitarian fallout. It only received a fraction of those funds. “Until very recently, we had only about 30% of those funds,” Lise Grande, the top UN humanitarian official in Iraq told reporters today. “The kinds of prepositioning and preparations we needed to do, we did simply did not have the funding.” “Of the million [who might flee under the worst case scenario] more than 700,000 would need shelter. They would depend on us for assistance,” says Grande. As of now, there are six emergency sites that can hold up to 60,000 people. Additional sites will be added in the coming weeks to handle over 200,000 people, says Grande. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2dJBVJu)

EU Threatens DRC Sanctions…The European Union will prepare economic sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo unless it holds its delayed presidential and parliamentary elections next year, foreign ministers agreed on Monday…EU foreign ministers said in a statement: “The EU will use all the means at its disposal, including individual restrictive measures” – diplomatic language for travel bans and asset freezes.Any sanctions would target “those responsible for serious human rights violations, those who promote violence and those who would try to obstruct a consensual and peaceful solution to the crisis”. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eav3qC)

Humanity Affirming story of the day: Khaled Almilaji coordinated a campaign that vaccinated 1.4 million Syrian children and risked his life to provide medical care during the country’s civil war. Now he’s in the Ivy League, learning about how to rebuild Syria’s health system when the war finally ends. (AP http://yhoo.it/2dZR10s)

Africa

A team of prosecutors from the world’s permanent war crimes court began a five-day trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday to urge restraint after a wave of pre-election violence in the capital, a statement said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2eol5RI)

A US aid worker kidnapped in Niger is likely being held by jihadists from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), the country’s interior minister said Sunday. (France 24 http://f24.my/2dJE3ku)

South African protesters demanding free university education broke windows, forced open doors and threw human excrement in an effort to disrupt the resumption of classes, said a university official. (VOA http://bit.ly/2dZQFXt)

The UN’s top court Monday opened three days of hearings into a plea by Equatorial Guinea to order France to suspend a corruption case against its vice president. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2emwvUJ)

Ethiopia has banned access to foreign-based opposition media and restricted foreign diplomats’ travel, in new provisions of a state of emergency. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2eyNhFf)

An attempt by Ghana’s ruling party to make fun of the main opposition candidate in the presidential election by posting a photograph of him sipping from a small carton of Kalyppo fruit juice has backfired, with his supporters adopting the brand to rally support. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2emAyQO)

Somali security forces shut down a newspaper and arrested an editor, the Somali journalists’ union said on Sunday, the latest crackdown in what reporters say is a climate of intimidation. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2emzoou)

MENA

Rights activists in Jordan called Monday for stiffer punishment for violence in the family, after four women and a man were killed in “honor crimes” in just over a week. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eol1Bg)

Saudi Arabia is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen if the Iran-allied Houthis agree, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday, adding that he was skeptical about efforts for peace after previous ceasefire attempts had failed. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dvBGnT)

Egypt passed legislation on Monday to crack down on people traffickers linked to a major surge in the numbers of migrants departing from the country’s Mediterranean coast on often disastrous sea journeys to Europe. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eojMlJ)

A top court in Bahrain on Monday overturned a nine-year jail term against Shiite opposition chief cleric Ali Salman, convicted of inciting hatred and calling for forceful regime change. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2dWwmsQ)

Dozens of civilians including 12 from the same family were killed Monday in heavy bombardment of east Aleppo despite Western warnings of sanctions against Syria’s regime over attacks on the city. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2emCIQz)

Five years after an uprising killed Libya’s Moamer Kadhafi, residents in the chaos-wracked country’s capital joke they have grown to miss the longtime dictator as the frustrations of daily life mount. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2dvB3us)

A state-owned newspaper in the United Arab Emirates is reporting that hundreds of Emirati doctors set to begin their residencies have gone unpaid amid signs of growing financial trouble in the oil-producing nation. (AP http://yhoo.it/2dvEyB7)

The European Union urged Russia to bring about a swift end to the bombing of Aleppo in Syria but refrained from imposing any sanctions on Moscow even though it said the attacks on the city could amount to war crimes. (AP http://yhoo.it/2dvCuZV)

Asia

Many of the 410 asylum seekers held on a tiny Pacific Island are being driven to attempt suicide to escape the prison-like conditions they face in indefinite detention on behalf of Australia, rights group Amnesty International said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eyNRTi)

A former senior Chinese energy official found to have more than $29.99 million in cash at his home has been given a suspended death penalty after being found guilty of corruption, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dZQThA)

It is hailed as India’s granary, but the northwestern state of Punjab faces a drastic decline in agricultural output unless it halts the rapid depletion of its groundwater, experts warn. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dvFCVv)

The Americas

Facing sinking poll numbers and accusations of sexual assault, Donald Trump doubled down Monday on charges that the presidential campaign is being rigged, warning of “large scale voter fraud” in the US election. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2eyNlot)

…and the rest

Farmers urgently need help to adapt their methods of growing food if the world is to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent climate change pushing millions into hunger and poverty, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dvAel6)

Fourteen children left a border refugee camp in northern France on Monday to be settled with relatives in Britain — the first of dozens of children from the Calais encampment expected to come to the country this week. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eyNsA4)

Opinion/Blogs

Better known Antonio Guterres, your next UN Secretary General. (Global Dispatches podcast http://bit.ly/2dJBAXi)

New climate deal hailed as ‘monumental’ despite some doubts of impact (Humanosphere http://buff.ly/2dWx4q2)

Indigenous Land Rights Bring Economic, not just Environmental Benefits (IPS http://bit.ly/2dvwCiY)

World Leaders Must Act Fast to Keep Promise to End Child Deaths By 2030 (TRF http://bit.ly/2eyGXxi)

The African Myth of ‘Interference in Internal Affairs’ (DW http://bit.ly/2dWnp2M)

How should sexual violence be reported by humanitarian organisations? (Guardian http://bit.ly/2dvwlNd)

What are the humanitarian needs in wake of Mosul offensive? (TRF http://yhoo.it/2dvy0Cy)

How the food we eat makes climate change worse (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dZPXd5)

Congo’s South Sudan rebel problem (IRIN http://bit.ly/2dZPaZr)