Photo Source: Scroll.in By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Communal violence between Buddhist Sinhalese and Muslims escalated sharply in Sri Lanka in March 2018, forcing the government to impose a nationwide state of emergency on 6 March. International outlets such as Reuters and Al Jazeera reported that the immediate trigger was the killing of a 41‑year‑old Sinhalese man in Kandy district after an altercation with Muslim youths. His death sparked retaliatory attacks, with Sinhalese mobs ransacking Muslim businesses and setting fire to mosques. Human Rights Watch noted that police struggled to contain the unrest, and at least two people were killed while dozens were injured. The violence had already been brewing. In late February 2018, riots broke out in Ampara after false rumours spread that a Muslim‑owned restaurant had laced food with sterilisation pills. This baseless claim inflamed tensions and led to attacks on Muslim property. By early March, the unrest spread to Kan...

Photo Source: CNN.com By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront The Democratic Republic of Congo had one of the largest number of people displaced, in 2016. A report by the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, puts it around 922,000 in 2016. This figure was more than that of Syrian and Iraqi refugees within the same year. According to Global Conflict Tracker, as of February 2018, there have been up to 4.1 million internally displaced people, and there is a presence of around 21,000 UN soldiers, in the DRC. In 2017, around 120,000 DRC Congolese, fled to neighbouring countries. Since the beginning of 2018, around 22,000 DRC Congolese crossed to Lake Albert to Uganda, bringing the total number of DRC Congolese refugees to 34,000 this year. The refugees, along with their luggage and fishing nets, use canoes or overcrowded fishing boats, often carrying around 250 people on an average. The journey takes them up to ten hours. Since December 2017, t...

Photo Source: Google By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Up Front T he foreboding events of genocide compelled eighty thousand South Sudanese, to leave their homes, beginning 2013. The refugee population, has made Sudan the second largest host of South Sudanese, in the region. Since the eruption of civil war in 2013, peace has remained absent for over five years. Various forces in the region have been accused of killing villagers, burning homes and stealing food. The Bentiu massacre in 2013 was regarded by The Economist as the worst massacre in the civil war. Since then, six more major war offensives have happened in South Sudan. The journalists have often observed the buildings in various South Sudan cities without iron roofs. The doors and windows of these homes have often been taken away by the looters for their own means. Humanitarian aid groups have estimated that around $1.72 billion is required to save the 5.1 million population. Save The Children, a UK non-profi...

Source: Al Jazeera By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Up Front T he slapping of an Israeli soldier by a sixteen-year-old activist, Ahed Tamimi in December 2017 has become a new symbol of Palestinian resistance.  While her cousin, Nour Tamimi had been released on bail for 5000 shekels (1400 USD), Ahed has been charged with twelve counts and if found guilty, could be convicted for a longer jail presence. Her mother, who filmed the video has also been charged. In 2015, Ahed bit a hand of an Israeli soldier to try to stop the arrest of her brother. This young activist comes from a prominent Tamimi family, residing in the village of Nabi Saleh, who are renowned for their political activism. Ahed’s father wants her to become the poster child of the most significant Palestinian peaceful resistance movement namely Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).  To many, Ahed is seen as the West Bank’s Joan of Arc. Interestingly, the media has not given her a...

By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront I n Darfur, Western Sudan, the hostilities have been decreasing over the years since 2009, but there is no peace in sight.  The number of rebel factions and armed movements has made it a complex situation, leading to stark ethnic and religious divisions. For years, this rebel movement in Darfur has been bred on local support. On 29 March 2017, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation (UNAMID), discussed the Darfur meditation. At this meeting, they noted improvement in the situation and called for a review of the “deployment of the mission in the context of the improved environment in Darfur”. There has been no comprehensive peace agreement in Darfur until now. The Darfur conflict started in 2003 when two rebel movements took up arms to protest against the economic and political marginalisation in Sudan. Violence in the Darfur region of Sudan’s far west continues unabated. Some 450,000 persons have...