Ethiopia

The Secretary-General condemned the attack in Mali which killed two peacekeepers and injured two others after their vehicle — an armoured personnel carrier — hit an improvised explosive device outside of the town of Douentza.  Despite such challenging circumstances, United Nations personnel are continuing their mandated work.

In northern Ethiopia, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are continuing to provide assistance across Tigray, Afar and Amhara.  Since the resumption of convoys at the beginning of April, 875 trucks have arrived in Tigray, carrying more than 32,800 tons of supplies, including food.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has, in what it calls a major breakthrough, brokered a peace accord between the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities, who agreed to dialogue to protect people, livestock and property, and to find a sustainable solution to the final status of Abyei.

Protais Mpiranya, the last of the major fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), is confirmed to have died.  Alleged to have been a senior leader of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Mr. Mpiranya was charged with eight counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as the murders of 10 Belgian United Nations peacekeepers.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which chairs the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, presented this year’s Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award to activist Cécile Ndjebet of Cameroon.

Before leaving Kyiv today, the Secretary-General said that, while he would keep pushing for a full-scale ceasefire, the United Nations would also keep striving for immediate practical steps to save lives and reduce human suffering, including through local cessation of hostilities and safe passage for civilian and supply routes.

The Houthis movement — also known as Ansar Allah — have signed an action plan with the United Nations to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, the killing and maiming of boys and girls, attacks on schools and hospitals and other grave violations.  Virginia Gamba, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, signed the action plan as a witness in New York.

Somalia faces a risk of famine in six areas through June 2022 if the rainy season from April to June fails as predicted, if food prices continue to rise, and if humanitarian assistance is not scaled up to reach the most vulnerable populations.  An estimated 4.9 million people across Somalia have been impacted.

Humanitarian needs across the Sahel region are at unprecedented levels due to escalating conflict, climate change, rising food insecurity and record-high food prices, United Nations officials report, saying that more than 30 million men, women and children in the Sahel will need assistance and protection in 2022.

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