Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
Floods Rock Manila
The worst flooding to hit the Philippines since 2009 is wreaking havoc on the capital. “Nineteen people were reported killed since Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 72 since steady rains started when Typhoon Saola hit northern portions of the main Luzon island in late July. Financial markets reopened after being shut on Tuesday, but schools and many businesses shut for a second day. Some public offices suspended operations on Wednesday afternoon. Jesse Robredo, the interior secretary, said the government has started drawing up plans to permanently relocate residents along riverbanks and coastal areas to reduce property and human losses during the rest of the typhoon and monsoon season. The national disaster agency said on Wednesday morning that at least 850,000 people were stranded or displaced, many seeking relief at crowded temporary shelter areas. ” (Reuters http://reut.rs/NcNwQt)
Beware an Outbreak of Sectarian Violence in Central Nigeria
Gunmen killed three people in an attack on a mosque in the Nigerian town of Okene on Tuesday. This comes one day after 19 people were killed in a church attack there. A tit-for-tat spiral of sectarian violence seems to be brewing. “On Monday, gunmen blocked the exits to the Deeper Life Church and fired at trapped worshippers, killing 19 people. The initial death toll was 16 but a further three died in hospital, authorities said. Kogi State Governor Idris Wada ordered an all-night curfew in Okene and surrounding areas in an effort to stem the violence. It was not clear who was behind the attacks but Islamist sect Boko Haram has attacked several churches and mosques this year. Security experts believe the sect wants to stoke a religious conflict inside Africa’s largest oil producer. Kogi is further south than Boko Haram’s usual targets, which are focused in its northeast home base and other cities across the north, although the group’s threat is spreading.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/NcOlbT)
Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Arminda Alisjahbaba of Indonesia Join post-Busan Aid Effectiveness Panel
This is what counts as palace intrigue in the international development community: “Senior officials from Nigeria and Indonesia will join Andrew Mitchell, the UK international development secretary, on a panel on development effectiveness bringing together traditional aid donors, developing countries and emerging economies. Armida Alisjahbana, Indonesia’s planning minister, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, complete the panel lineup, which is a direct outcome of the fourth high-level forum on aid effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, last December. Busan sought to bring in key aid players from the global south – Brazil, India and China – and set out a common framework on aid effectiveness, particularly in relation to governance and transparency. The new panel is the linchpin of the new global partnership on development co-operation, moving away from the model dominated by the group of industrialised countries that comprise the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) development assistance committee. A political body, the global partnership’s role is to maintain the momentum for more effective development co-operation and ensure accountability for implementing the commitments agreed at Busan. The important caveat at Busan was that the participation of emerging economies should be on a voluntary basis.” (Guardian http://bit.ly/OK9KXI)