Africa

The text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Group of Five for the Sahel Summit, held in Nouakchott today, is not available in English.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Giovanie Biha of Burundi as his new Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).

In Nepal, the United Nations team is helping the Government cope with the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the repatriation of Nepali migrants returning from the Gulf and Southeast Asia at entry and transit points, with quarantine sites and isolation centres.  Some 25,000 returnees are expected in this first phase.

Forced displacement is now affecting more than one percent of humanity, or 1 in 97 people, and fewer of those who flee are able to return home, according to a report issued today by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

A new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report finds that universal child benefits such as cash payments or tax transfers — crucial to fighting child poverty — are only available in 1 out of 10 countries.  Officials say that they are needed now more than ever amid the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the China‑Africa Summit on solidarity against COVID-19, in New York today:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched the ZODIAC project to strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics by establishing a network to help with monitoring, surveillance, early detection and control of animal and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, avian influenza and Zika.

Persistent terrorist attacks, maritime insecurity and rising political tension are just some of the backdrops against which countries of Central Africa are now battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council during a 12 June videoconference meeting, noting that 22,000 cases of the virus have already been confirmed across 11 countries.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has launched an $186 million appeal to provide lifesaving protection and assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in the Central Sahel, The number of displaced in Burkina Faso has more than quadrupled in the past year.

More than 119,000 people hit by Tropical Cyclone Amanda in El Salvador need assistance, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, which estimates that $2.2 million will be needed for critical sanitation, shelter and child‑protection support to over 35,000 people in shelters and impacted communities.