Africa

Five years after the 2017 influx into Bangladesh of Rohingya refugees, food security in Cox’s Bazar remains a top priority, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports.  A joint response plan calls for $943 million to help the refugees and their host communities; 25 per cent of the funds will go to fight hunger and malnutrition.

United Nations officials in the Central African Republic report that 300 peacekeepers have been deployed to Bakouma, one of several places where security concerns prevented the holding of elections in 2020.  They will protect the civilian population and help organize legislative elections later in May.

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

The Elsie Initiative, a United Nations Trust Fund that supports deployment of uniformed women to peace operations, announced this morning its first five recipients — Liberia, Mexico, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone — during a high-level virtual event.  The Fund also launched its second programming round.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the European Union-Africa Green Investment Forum, today:

The first members of the International Organization for Migration’s emergency response team arrived in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines today to deliver essential shelter and emergency items to thousands of people forcibly displaced after the eruption of La Soufrière volcano.

United Nations humanitarian staff in Nigeria continue to receive alarming reports of clashes between insurgent groups and the armed forces in the town of Damasak in Borno State.  Recently, they say, non-State armed groups have been searching house to house, reportedly looking for civilians identified as aid workers.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says 71 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar, with more than half of them still detained since the beginning of February.  Some 24 people have been charged for allegedly spreading fake news.

The United Nations team in Timor-Leste, led by Roy Trivedy, the Resident Coordinator, is supporting local authorities following floods that have impacted Díli and other parts of the country.  The Government says there have been more than 30 deaths and over 13,500 people are living in evacuation sites.

A new strategy to prevent conflict and consolidate peace in Africa’s Great Lakes region will bring fresh support to leaders working to end violence by armed groups, especially in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting today, while describing diplomatic relations across the region as being broadly “on the right track”.