UN Fights to Release Child Soldiers in Chad

So-called 'social affairs center' really internment facility: human rights groups

(NEWSER) - Cambodians being held at a UN-funded internment camp are frequently beaten and raped, treatment that has resulted in at least three deaths. Guards at the “social affairs center” say its residents are free to leave when they choose—but human rights watchdogs and ex-inmates say Prey Speu is an “illegal, clandestine prison” for Camdobia’s “undesirables”: homeless people, prostitutes, and drug users, reports the Guardian . More»

Mission provides logistical support to brutal national army

(NEWSER) - Women and children beaten to death with clubs, hacked up with machetes—or, if they're "lucky," gang-raped and left alive. Such shocking acts are sadly commonplace in the conflict that has consumed Congo, perpetrated by both Rwandan rebels and their enemies in the Congolese army. The army, however, enjoys generous logistical support from the UN peacekeeping mission, even though the campaign has led to 1,400 civilian deaths, countless rapes, and mass displacement. More»

(NEWSER) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor defended displaying human skulls along roadways in his country to scare people into obeying soldiers' orders, reports the Times of London. “Skulls were used as symbols of death,” he told the judges at his trial at the Hague. “Enemy soldiers had been killed and their skulls were used. We did not think that symbol was anything wrong." More»

(NEWSER) - There’s a vampire resurgence in Chad, and no, it’s not because Twilight has swept the African country. Cost-conscious residents have resurrected a dish slyly known as “vampire”: cooked animal blood, the BBC reports. With global food prices soaring and meat increasingly expensive, traditional vampire is “actually an excellent source of nutrients, especially for children,” a local aidworker says. More»

After getting the boot in March, NGOs to return to troubled region

(NEWSER) - The Sudanese government says it will invite new aid groups to work in Darfur and let the UN and other agencies expand their operations in the region. The announcement comes two months after Sudan expelled 13 NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, in the aftermath of the International Criminal Court's indictment of President Omar al-Bashir. The UN's humanitarian chief said he would have preferred if Sudan had reversed the earlier expulsions but was encouraged by the "welcome degree of flexibility." More»