"We're talking about sand and death"-- Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and other nearby Political Hotspots 2020

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — At least 2,100 people have been killed in Turkey and Syria, where a powerful earthquake on Monday collapsed thousands of buildings and raised the specter of a new humanitarian disaster in a region already wracked by war, a refugee crisis and deep economic troubles.

From NY Times

https://dcist.com/story/23/02/06/turkey-syria-earthquake-how-to-help-dc-organizations-donations/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=DCIST_DAILY_02_06_2023&utm_content=DCist+Daily+-+2/6/2023+16:59:45

Still trying to find people in the rubble

https://wapo.st/3UQ292T

gift link should hopefully work- article title--With Europe’s support, North African nations push migrants to the desert

A year-long joint investigation by The Washington Post, Lighthouse Reports and a consortium of international media outlets shows how the European Union and individual European nations are supporting and financing aggressive operations by governments in North Africa to detain tens of thousands of migrants each year and dump them in remote areas, often barren deserts.

European funds have been used to train personnel and buy equipment for units implicated in desert dumps and human rights abuses, records and interviews show. Migrants have been pushed back into the most inhospitable parts of North Africa, exposing them to abandonment with no food or water, kidnapping, extortion, sale as human chattel, torture, sexual violence and, in the worst instances, death.
Spanish security forces in Mauritania photographed and reviewed lists of migrants before they were driven to Mali against their will and left to wander for days in an area where violent Islamist groups operate, according to testimony and documents.
In Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, vehicles of the same make and model as those provided by European countries to local security forces rounded up Black migrants from streets or transported them from detention centers to remote regions, according to filmed footage, verified images, migrant testimony and interviews with officials.
European officials held internal discussions on some of the abusive practices since at least 2019, and were flagged to allegations in reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Frontex, the E.U. border agency.

The E.U. provided more than 400 million euros to Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania between 2015 and 2021 under its largest migration fund, the E.U. Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, an initiative to foster local economic growth and stem migration.