Mali

The border area of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has become the epicentre of a fast-growing crisis marked by unprecedented levels of armed violence, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.  Armed assailants have forced more than 3,600 schools and 241 health centres in those countries to close.

Kenya is experiencing its worst desert locust infestation in 70 years, with swarm activity and breeding also occurring in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.  Left unchecked and with additional rains, it could grow 500-fold by June, with devastating impacts.

At least 810 people died in 2019 while crossing deserts, river and remote terrain on different migration routes across the Americas, making the year one of the deadliest on record, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported today.

While the World Health Organization (WHO) is not declaring the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern at this time, the outbreak is a very high risk in China, as well as regionally and globally, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced.

The United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) today called for the immediate release of Siham Sergewa, an elected member of the House of Representatives, who was seized at night from her home in Benghazi six months ago.  Since her violent abduction, her fate remains unknown.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Dang Dinh Quy (Viet Nam):

With security conditions in Mali worsening at an alarming rate, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations today called on the Government and signatories to the historic 2015 peace agreement to uphold their commitments as he unveiled “ambitious” plans in the Security Council for a mobile task force able to adapt to changing power dynamics.

On 14  January 2020, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) concerning Mali enacted the amendments specified with an underline in the entries below on its Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the travel ban set out in paragraphs 1 to 3 of Security Council resolution 2374 (2017), adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations and as renewed in paragraph 1 of resolution 2484 (2019).

Food prices around the world are at their highest levels in five years, the food price index from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.  According to FAO, prices rose for the third consecutive month in December, with vegetable oil, sugar, dairy and cereals among the commodities driving up world food prices.

Following the approval on 10 July 2019 of the addition of the entries specified below to its Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the travel ban as set out in paragraphs 1 to 3 of Security Council resolution 2374 (2017) and renewed by paragraph 1 of resolution 2432 (2018).