Africa

In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, more than 4,000 people have died as a result of terrorist attacks in 2019, the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel told members of the Security Council today.  The number of displaced people has increased 10-fold to about half a million, he added.

The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) has an increasingly important role as the countries in the region seek to counter an unprecedented level of violence, relentless terrorism and other cross-border threats, speakers said today, as the Security Council continued to discuss the Office’s mandate renewal.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Peacebuilding Commission, delivered by Assistant Secretary‑General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, in New York today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development interactive session on “Twenty-One Strategies Later:  Why is Sustainable Peace and Development in the Sahel Still Elusive?”, in Aswan, Egypt, on 11 December:

The Qatar Fund for Development and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees signed an agreement yesterday under which Qatar will contribute $20.7 million to support Palestine refugees’ access to basic services in Syria.  This contribution brings the Qatar Fund’s total support to the Agency to $40 million.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks (opening and closing), as prepared for delivery, at the opening session of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development:  “The Africa We Want:  Sustaining Peace, Security and Development”, in Aswan, Egypt, on 11 December:

The root causes of conflict between farmers and herders and other drivers of intercommunal and extremist violence must be urgently addressed in a holistic manner to stop rising instability in West Africa, the Secretary‑General’s Special Representative for that region told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today encouraged Member States to comprehensively engage young people in fostering durable peace, building upon the initiative “Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020” and on the Council’s 2 October debate on mobilizing young people towards that goal.

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace, Security and Development in Africa, in Aswan, Egypt, today:

The Secretary-General, marking Human Rights Day and its theme, “Youth Standing up for Human Rights”, said that, throughout history and across the world, young people have been at the forefront of standing up for what is right and that he is deeply inspired by the energy and passion they bring to the struggle for human rights.