Africa

Following is the transcript of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ press conference, held in New York today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the high-level webinar on the African COVID-19 Vaccine Financing and Deployment Strategy, held today:

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, raised concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse impact on children in conflict zones.  In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, she urged States to incorporate child rights in virus containment plans and ensure that protection services continue to operate.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the number of people displaced by violence in Africa’s Sahel region has reached 2 million.  Officials warn that needs continue to surge, with multiple crises converging and the humanitarian response dangerously overstretched.

Insecurity across West Africa and the Sahel has expanded into areas previously considered safe, with militants continuing to stage deadly attacks, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the region told the Security Council today, as delegates called for consolidating gains in democratic governance recently expressed by several countries in their successful conduct of elections.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, refer to the decisions respectively made by the African Union Peace and Security Council in communiqué PSC/PR/COMM. (CMLXVIII) of 30 November and the United Nations Security Council in resolution 2559 (2020) of 22 December, to terminate the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically reduced, all of the world’s coral reefs will bleach by the end of the century, and calls for even more urgent action to limit ocean temperature rise.

On 9 December, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres convened virtually the fourth African Union-United Nations Annual Conference, at a time of unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message on the occasion of the ninth annual High‑level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, on the theme “Silencing the Guns through Building Resilient Democracies”, today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the high‑level meeting on “African Union Silencing the Guns Initiative – The Role of Illicit Financial Flows in Fuelling Instability in Africa” today: