Africa

The Emergency Relief Coordinator today released $30 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to urgently scale up relief efforts in the Sahel, where an acute drought, combined with exceptionally high food prices and worsening insecurity, has escalated humanitarian needs.

Calming the ever-volatile security situation in Mali hinged on a long-term plan matched with predictable funding that would consolidate fragile gains and allow international forces to tackle the spread of terrorism and transnational organized crime which was spreading across borders in the region, the United Nations peacekeeping chief told the Security Council today.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Joanna Wronecka (Poland):

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

In Afghanistan, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights welcomed the commitment by the Government to improve the human rights situation, but he also urged more action to end attacks on civilians, mainly by extremists, and the continued discrimination against Afghan women at all levels of society.

On the seventieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping, the commanders of three of the Organization’s missions in Africa briefed the Security Council this afternoon on the increasingly complex challenges faced by Blue Helmets, emphasizing that their core role was to establish secure environments that would enable political solutions to take root.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2018, calling for a “realistic, practicable and enduring” political solution to end the decades‑old conflict.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the second Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation, in Addis Ababa today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Sahel Alliance side event “Working Hand in Hand with the United Nations to Invest for the Future of Sahel”, in New York today:

Drought hits the Sahel region hard, with more than 10 million people expected to need emergency food assistance, up from 7.1 million currently, if adequate assistance is not provided in time. Poor rains in 2017 are now deeply affecting parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.