Africa

More than 1,000 migrants have died or disappeared since 2014 while trying to leave East Africa and the Horn of Africa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.  Most were travelling to the Arabian Peninsula or South Africa.  Migrants face violence, abandonment by smugglers, limited access to medical care and detention, among other dangers.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the opening session of the Africities Summit in Kisumu, Kenya, today:

Food and nutrition aid has reached 2.1 million people in Myanmar during the first quarter of 2022, the World Food Programme (WFP) says.  WFP hopes to reach at least 4 million of the country’s most food-insecure and vulnerable people this year, subject to availability of resources and access to those in need, and calls for unimpeded humanitarian access.

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reports that 60 community members, including 20 women and 10 ex-combatants, are benefiting from its Community Violence Reduction project in a village in North Kivu’s Masisi Territory, where they are gaining skills in the installation and maintenance of street lighting.

Jayathma Wickramanayake, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, and The Body Shop, launched a campaign today that seeks to get young voices into the halls of power.  The campaign, “Be Seen, Be Heard”, seeks to create long-term structural changes that will make decision-making more inclusive of young people and ensure their participation in political life.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Africa Dialogue Series Launch, in New York, today:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Barbara Woodward (United Kingdom):

The security crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo threatens to frustrate favourable developments in the wider Great Lakes region, the Security Council heard today, as members welcomed that country’s recent admission into the East African Community and stressed the need to combat the illicit trade of natural resources that continues to fuel conflict.

Donors pledged $1.4 billion to respond to the drought in the Horn of Africa – the worst in the region in four decades – that has left more than 15 million people severely food insecure in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  Of the total, $1 billion will go towards immediate and life-saving aid, such as food.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Peacebuilding Commission meeting on the peacebuilding challenges in the Lake Chad Basin, in New York on 20 April: