Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
Syrian Refugees Pass 1 Million Mark
A arim milestone is reached. “The UN refugee agency, citing data received from UNHCR’s offices in the Syria region, on Wednesday announced that the number of Syrians either registered as refugees or being assisted as such has reached the 1 million mark…The number of Syrian refugees fleeing their country has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. More than 400,000 people have become refugees since January 1, 2013. They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families. Around half of the refugees are children, the majority under the age of eleven. Most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Increasingly, Syrians are also fleeing to North Africa and Europe. “This number translates into 1 million people who are dependent on the generosity of host countries, the response of humanitarian agencies and the financial support of governments and individuals,” said Guterres.” (UNHCR http://bit.ly/XW0ymY)
Scores Killed in New Outbreak of Fighting in Eastern DRC
Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has left 70 people dead and displaced thousands. “The clashes between the army and fighters from the APCLS militia, which began last week in the town of Kitchanga, are just the latest violence to flare up in a region that has become a tinderbox of ethnic tensions and battles over resources. A hospital filled with wounded civilians was shelled over the weekend and homes have been torched, according to the French medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres… ‘The situation is very serious … Seeing the burnt-out houses and the casualties, it’s shocking.’…Colonel Olivier Hamuli blamed the fighting, some of the bloodiest in recent months, on a personal feud between a FARDC commanding officer and an APCLS fighter, who until recently fought alongside government troops against the anti-Kinshasa M23 uprising.” (Reuters http://yhoo.it/Z7HGEW)
Security Council Poised to Pass New Round of North Korea Sanctions
Tensions are heightened after DPRK tested a nuclear weapon last month. “Passage of the measure, drafted in response to the third North Korean underground nuclear test three weeks ago, seemed all but assured, in part because China — North Korea’s major benefactor — participated in drafting the language. It would be the fourth Security Council sanctions resolution on North Korea, which has defied the previous measures with increasing belligerence. A vote was expected on Thursday. Infuriated, North Korea vowed to scrap the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War and threatened to attack the United States with what the North Korean government news agency called an arsenal of diverse ‘lighter and smaller nukes.’” (NYT http://nyti.ms/10bIpHU)