Africa

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

The Security Council welcomed the deployment of the Group of Five Sahel joint force (Force conjointe du G5 Sahel - FC-G5S) that would address the threat of terrorism, as well as the serious challenges posed by transnational organized crime in the region.

The United Nations must move away from ad hoc arrangements towards a more institutionalized approach for the joint planning, mandating, financing and supporting of African Union peace-support operations, speakers told the Security Council today as it took up proposals in that regard.

The threat posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to stability in Central Africa’s should not be underestimated, particularly now with Ugandan and South Sudanese troops, as well as United States special forces having disengaged from the African Union Regional Task Force, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the subregion warned in the Security Council this afternoon.

Belligerents in eastern Ukraine have repeatedly failed to implement ceasefire agreements, allowing hostilities to claim more lives as the fighting entered its fourth year, the latest human rights report says.  It recorded 36 deaths and 157 injuries, a rise of nearly 50 per cent over the previous reporting period.

The Secretary-General is encouraged by progress in the implementation of the peace accord in Colombia, especially the recent delivery to the United Nations Mission of the first 30 per cent of the arms of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC-EP).

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit session titled “Innovation and Sustainable Development in Africa — Reinforcing the Partnership between the G-7 and African Countries”, in Taormina, Italy, on 26 May:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for Africa Day, observed on 25 May:

The Department of Public Information will partner with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) and Links, Inc. to organize its ninth annual Remember Slavery Global Student Videoconference on 12 May.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso as his Special Envoy.