Is Yemen safer than Africa!!?

Africa has been turned into a continent of emigrants; either seeking greener pastures or running from wars and agonies. If Africans run abroad to Europe, the United States, China and other economically vibrant countries in Asia and the Middle East, everybody to a reasonable and good extent will understand. But when Africans run to Yemen, then something terrible is really wrong with the continent.

Yemen is notorious for al Qaeda activities and she is still grappling with fratricidal wars. A shocking and surprising report came out from the UN refugees' Commission that Africans are trooping into Yemen to escape wars and agonies. A fate they are going to meet in Yemen but it looks as if in all, Yemen is preferable to them.

Since 2006, the commission has never witnessed such an influx. The refugees are coming en masse despite the hazards in the maritime travel. The boats are over-packed which makes everything more precarious yet people are not debarred from the journey. Read More 

Africa and Africans need to wake up seriously before all these completely get out of hand. Africans risk becoming the major destroyers of their continent most especially through the greed of the leaders and the coming avarice of some followers likely to be leaders. This is evident in the various rebel movements and sectionalism.

Is Africa going back to the predominant war era?

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has received serious reports of human rights abuses committed by Malian security forces against civilians near the central town of Niono, Reuters quoted the organization as saying.

 HRW issued a statement Saturday detailing abuses that included the killings of rebel-linked northern ethnic groups such as Tuaregs and Arabs. 

The activist group urged the Malian government and the French soldiers deployed in the country to “do their utmost to ensure the protection of all civilians.” French troops have been deployed to Mali in an attempt to stop the advance of the Islamist insurgency in northern part of the country. 

On Saturday, France called upon world leaders to provide logistic and financial aid to African armies in order to speed the reinforcement of French forces on the ground.  

As France is battling Islamists in Mali, Britain, her close ally in the war and raid is having another headache in Algeria.

Three Britons are confirmed to have been killed and three more are believed to be dead after the Algeria hostage crisis.

One further UK resident is also thought to be dead according to David Cameron.

Some 22 other Britons are now back in UK and are being reunited with their familie according to the foreign secretary.

A raid by Algerian troops ended a four-day siege at the In Amenas gas facility on Saturday. Algeria says at least 23 hostages and 32 militants died.

Algeria's minister of communications said the final death toll might rise and there would be an announcement in the next few hours.

The Foreign Office said the figures announced by the prime minister included a Briton killed on Wednesday in the initial raid by militants.

Africa is gradually degenerating into a continent of massive chaos, unrest and war once again and the leaders have no foresight to start tackling the menace now. They are waiting till it becomes a 'missile keg' and starts exploding everywhere till they act. 

Congo still boils. Sudan and South Sudan are only having timed peace. Central African Republic is crying internally. The presumed 'giant', Nigeria cannot combat the Boko Haram insurgency. The whole continent is fast becoming an headache for foreigners but no leader is ready to discuss the issue especially in relation to the bleak future it is creating.

Acting when everything is worsened will aid their permanent stay in office and assist their corrupt tendencies. This is the reason why they are silent. African media too is becoming dormant.

Myanmar and the Rebels: Ceasefire broken

President Thein Sein issued a ceasefire order to troops in the La Ja Yang area of Kachin near the border with China but the army did not respect the order and continues to shell the rebels according to the rebels spokesman.

It was due to take effect on Saturday morning, but Colonel James Lum Dau, a Thai-based spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), told Reuters the army had continued to attack over the weekend, both in La Ja Yang and elsewhere in the state.

An offensive in La Ja Yang from about 8 a.m. on Sunday morning had involved artillery and infantry, he said.

A 17-year ceasefire with the KIA broke down in June 2011 and fighting has been particularly intense in recent weeks.

Twenty months of fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people and, for some analysts, raised doubts about the sincerity of all the political and economic reforms pursued by Thein Sein in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Addressing a development forum attended by donor countries and international aid organizations on Saturday, Thein Sein had invited the Kachin rebels to a 'political dialogue' with rebels from other states.

Ten other major rebel groups from various states have already agreed to a ceasefire.

A local source in Kachin, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the army attacks on Sunday, including one on a rebel position about five miles (eight km) from the KIA stronghold of Laiza.

Fighter jets had flown over the area but had not attacked, the source said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch last week accused the army of indiscriminately shelling the town of Laiza.

Loud explosions were also heard by residents of the town of Mai Ja Yang who felt the vibrations, the source said. The conflict with the rebels remains a central agony in the 'new Burma'.