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John Holmes

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Article
/ 30 May 2008

ICC focuses on new Sudanese war-crimes case

Urging decisive action against Sudanese war-crimes suspects, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor said on Friday he would announce details of a new case next week against senior players in the Darfur conflict. "I will inform the … [United Nations] Security Council on June 5 when I will present my second case," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said.

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Article
/ 28 May 2008

West dismayed over Suu Kyi detention

Western governments lashed out at the extension of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest, but the outrage at Burma’s generals was tempered by concern over disrupting aid flows to desperate cyclone victims. Burma has been promised millions of dollars in Western aid after Cyclone Nargis, but this cut no ice with the junta regarding the opposition leader.

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Article
/ 21 May 2008

Ban heads for Asia on Burma aid mission

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon headed to south-east Asia on Wednesday on a mission to secure more help for cyclone victims in Burma, whose military rulers have finally granted an aid agency the use of helicopters to deliver supplies. The UN says up to 2,4-million people are struggling to survive.

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Article
/ 20 May 2008

Asian aid to reach Burma cyclone victims

Burma’s neighbours appeared to have reached a compromise with the regime on Monday that would finally allow significant amounts of international aid to reach the survivors of the deadly cyclone, more than two weeks after it struck. An Asian-led task force will be formed to help funnel relief into the isolated country.

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Article
/ 18 May 2008

Pressure mounts on Burma to open up to aid

Aid was trickling in on Sunday to an estimated 2,5-million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis in Burma’s Irrawaddy delta as more foreign envoys tried to get the junta to admit large-scale international relief. The junta’s official toll from the disaster stands at 77 738 dead and 55 917 missing.

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/ 15 May 2008

Foreign powers lean on Burma to open up aid drive

Western powers kept up the pressure on Burma’s generals on Thursday to allow a massive aid effort as relief workers struggled to help an estimated 2,5-million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis. The European Union’s top aid official has warned that the military government’s restrictions on foreign aid workers were increasing the risk of starvation.

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Article
/ 4 April 2008

UN warns of ‘very grave’ problems in Iraq

A top United Nations official warned on Friday of ”very grave” humanitarian problems in Iraq, including a lack of food and the internal displacement of more than two million people. ”There are very grave humanitarian problems. The most serious is the internal displacement of the Iraqis,” UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said.

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/ 24 March 2008

A forgotten war draining a forgotten people

The road from Harar runs for more than 960km east towards the border with Somalia, penetrating deep into the desiccated badlands of the Ogaden desert, the dusty heart of Ethiopia’s war-torn Somali regional state. This is the land that the self-styled separatists of the Ogaden National Liberation Front claim as their own.

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Article
/ 28 February 2008

Annan launches new bid for Kenya deal

Mediator Kofi Annan launched a new bid on Thursday for a political compromise to end Kenya’s post-election crisis, bringing the country’s feuding leaders to the same table for the first time in a month. The opposition had threatened to hold mass street protests on Thursday, but called them off after meeting Annan.

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Africa
/ 26 February 2008

UN: Ethnic tensions splitting Kenya

Two months of violence in Kenya have split the country along ethnic lines and there is a risk of further clashes if the political crisis is not resolved quickly, a top United Nations official said on Monday. Exhausted by a post-election crisis that has killed more than 1 000 people, most of the 36-million Kenyans want a quick political deal.

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/ 12 February 2008

Annan calls for Kenya deal within days

Kofi Annan urged Kenya’s rival leaders on Monday to hold urgent talks to find an end within 72 hours to the political crisis and unrest that has left more than 1 000 people dead. Annan was appointed as mediator by the African Union to try to broker an agreement to end weeks of violence since a disputed December 27 presidential election.

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/ 11 February 2008

UN: Up to 600 000 displaced in Kenya

The United Nations’s top emergency relief official said on Monday that as many as 600 000 people had been displaced following violence sparked by Kenya’s disputed elections. ”We estimate that 300 000 people were displaced and are now in camps,” John Holmes said, adding: ”There are probably as many displaced who are not in camps.”

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Africa
/ 10 February 2008

Annan urges patience over Kenya deal

The chief mediator in Kenya’s crisis talks, Kofi Annan, urged Kenyans to be patient on Saturday with a deal to end weeks of violence expected to be finalised in the coming days. ”In negotiations, a deal is not a deal until it is done,” the former United Nations chief cautioned in a statement.

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Africa
/ 8 February 2008

Kenyan rivals seek to end bloodshed

Kenya’s political rivals tried to inject some momentum on Friday into slow-moving peace talks brokered by former United Nations head Kofi Annan, aimed at ending weeks of bloodshed. Four people were killed overnight in tribal violence in the Kisii region of Nyanza province in western Kenya, two of whom were ”hacked to death”, police said.

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Africa
/ 3 December 2007

Somalia needs more help, says UN

The United Nations’s top aid official, John Holmes, arrived in Somalia on Monday, calling for more to be done to help the Horn of Africa country where almost 6 000 civilians have been killed in fighting this year. UN officials say Somalia’s humanitarian crisis is Africa’s worst, with one million people displaced.

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Article
/ 17 November 2007

Bangladesh cyclone toll nears 1 100

Military ships and helicopters were trying on Saturday to reach thousands of survivors of a super cyclone that killed nearly 1 100 people and pummelled impoverished Bangladesh with mighty winds and waves. Cyclone Sidr smashed into the country’s southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250km/h winds that whipped up a 5m tidal surge.

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Article
/ 14 September 2007

Experts fear huge quake coming in Indonesia

Powerful earthquakes struck Indonesia for a third day on Friday, terrorising thousands of people who were refusing to return to coastal homes in fear of tsunami and falling debris. Seismologists warned that the worst may be yet to come. Experts have been predicting a repeat of the monster temblor that triggered the 2004 Asian tsunami.

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Africa
/ 8 September 2007

Fighting erupts in eastern DRC

Fresh clashes have erupted between a renegade general and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations said violence in the region was hampering efforts to deliver food to tens of thousands of displaced
civilians.

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Article
/ 6 September 2007

UN fears refugee crisis in DRC

The United Nations fears that the refugee crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could worsen after the escalation of the conflict between government troops and soldiers loyal to a dissident general. Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said that the crisis could aggravate the situation throughout the country.

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Africa
/ 30 August 2007

Rebels accuse govt of bombing Darfur

Darfur rebels accused the government of bombing South Darfur on Thursday, the latest attack in an aerial campaign that has driven thousands of people from their homes over the past month. ”There is aerial bombardment on a daily basis — bombing by MiG 29 and by Antonov,” Justice and Equality Movement commander Abel Aziz el-Nur Ashr Ashr said.

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Article
/ 30 August 2007

UN official warns of militarised Darfur camps

Camps teeming with frustrated refugees in Sudan’s Darfur region have become militarised and present a danger that cannot be ignored, a United Nations official was quoted as saying on Thursday. The UN’s emergency relief coordinator said the presence of weapons in the camps made for a potentially explosive situation.

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