Africa

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the International Conference on Lake Chad, in Abuja, Nigeria today:

The text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the international high-level conference on the Sahel, held in Brussels on 23 February, is not available in English.  For the French text, please see www.un.org/press/fr/2018/sgsm18915.doc.htm.

The World Food Programme is warning today that the twin scourges of another prolonged dry spell and an invasive crop-eating worm are set to sharply curtail harvests across southern Africa, driving millions of people into severe hunger.

ADDIS ABABA/NEW YORK, 1 February (Department of Political Affairs) — The United Nations-African Union Joint Task Force on Peace and Security held its fourteenth consultative meeting at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 January 2018.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York on Thursday, 25 January, for Ethiopia.  During an hour-long layover in Lomé, Togo, he had a courtesy call with President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé at the airport. The Secretary-General arrived in Addis Ababa late on Friday, 26 January.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners have launched a funding appeal for $157 million to help 250,000 people impacted by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin region.  Since it began in 2013, the Boko Haram conflict has internally displaced 2.4 million people.

The Security Council today adopted a presidential statement that welcomed positive developments in several West African countries, but expressed its serious concern over the challenging security situation in the region and the Sahel.

The World Health Organization’s first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to several common, serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries.

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ address to the Opening Ceremony of the thirtieth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, in Addis Ababa today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the African Union Peace and Security Council’s meeting on combating the transnational threat of terrorism in Africa, in Addis Ababa today: