Mali

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

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the ministerial meeting on the implementation of the agreement for peace and reconciliation in Mali, in New York today:

Mark Lowcock, the new head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will travel to Niger and Nigeria from 9 to 12 September to raise the profile of the Lake Chad Basin crisis impacting some 17 million people.  He will seek additional humanitarian support to avert the risk of famine.

OCHA says a cholera outbreak has been reported in Borno State, north-eastern Nigeria, the first case of which was recorded on 16 August.  More than 530 suspected cases had been registered as of yesterday, including 23 deaths, mainly in Muna Garage, a camp hosting about 20,000 internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the state capital.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Tekeda Alemu (Ethiopia):

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

Targeting actors derailing the peace process in Mali, the Security Council decided unanimously today to impose sanctions and create a new committee and panel of experts to examine alleged violations.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners have begun relocating more than 33,000 Congolese refugees from over-crowded reception centres in northern Angola to a newly established settlement in Lóvua, some 100 kilometres further inland, where they will all receive a plot of land on which to build shelters and grow food.

The Government and the United Nations held an event in Mogadishu to celebrate Somalia’s polio-free status of the last three years.  The World Health Organization applauded Somalia’s efforts to ward off the highly infectious virus while urging continued caution and vigilance.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta (Egypt):