WUNRN
What is a MILITANT - Definitions
vary but often refer to warfare, fighting. Who are most frequently the
displaced, the victims of militants - WOMEN. Who very rarely are engaged with militants
- WOMEN. And yet, in Kenya, in Somalia, in Ukraine, in Palestine, in Burma, in
Libya, in Mexico, Venezuela, and the Guatemala - Honduras border, in Syria, in
SO MANY parts of this volatile world, militant men are creating crises
that disrupt the lives of women and children. And yet, though women desparately
want PEACE, and make serious and sustained efforts to be present in all
levels and dimensions of the peace process, we are primarily absent, excluded,
marginalized; and those of power who sit at the "peace table" or the
non-peace strategy sessions, are men, often supporting the continued
conflicts.
As women try to piece together
fragmented lives rebounding from "militants," this Women, Peace &
Freedom song and video resonate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vEF8LL0yMY
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KENYA - MILITANTS CREATE INSECURITY
THAT HAMPERS AID WORK, SUPPLIES - WOMEN & CHILDREN'S UNMET URGENT NEEDS
By Jenny Lei Ravelo -
28 July 2014
Volunteers of an outreach program organized by the Voluntary Service Overseas trek to the Nyumbani Children's Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. The heightening security situation in parts of Kenya is affecting aid and development work in different parts of the country. Photo by: alxdxn / CC BY-NC-ND
It's becoming increasingly difficult to do any type of aid work in certain
parts of
Just a few days after the Peace
Corps announced it was putting
a (temporary) hold on its program in the country active since 1964, VSO
International confirmed to Devex it will not be sending new volunteers
to Kenya's coastal region
Olivia Swartz, head of people operations and change at
the U.K.-based volunteer organization, explained that the assignments of its 12
volunteers in Kalifi and Malindi will not be extended beyond mid-August and no
more volunteers will be placed there "until further notice.”
"The safety and well-being of our volunteers,
staff and partners is always our primary concern so we do revise our advice and
actions as and when new information is received," she said.
A U.S.-based health NGO, which conducts health worker
trainings in many parts of the country but didn’t want to be named because of
the sensitivity of the situation, meanwhile, is putting staff travel to Lamu on
hold. The coastal area has been the center of attacks in recent weeks, leading
local authorities to impose a month-long, 12-hour curfew starting July 20, but
allowing those attending nightly prayers for Ramadan.
Lamu’s pristine beaches make it a popular travel
destination for foreign aid workers — the island was mentioned in Alex
Berenson’s recent spy novel “The Night Ranger” about the kidnapping of American
aid workers by Somali militants.
The organization’s decision was preceded by a cancelled
field visit to Lamu in June following an armed attack in Mpeketoni town that
left 60 people dead. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility as a response to
The suspension will be until the curfew ends and
"business returns to normal,” an official from the organization said.
Al-Shabaab operations inside
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