Peacekeeping

The World Food Programme in South Sudan strongly condemned an attack on its boat convoy near Shambe carrying food assistance intended for people displaced after losing their homes and crops to floods.  One of the 13-person crew is missing and presumed killed, and three others are suffering from gunshot wounds.

With the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) having successfully adjusted to COVID-19, its leader called for continued international support to help the country meet the challenges posed by armed groups and political tension, amid intensified planning for the Mission’s drawdown.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today said that they remain deeply concerned about the ongoing hostilities along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, calling on all sides to immediately end the fighting and respect international human rights and humanitarian law.

Mayerlín Vergara Pérez from Colombia is the 2020 laureate of the Nansen Refugee Award, the UN refugee agency announced today.  The Caribbean Regional Coordinator for the Renacer Foundation has spent more than two decades helping the non-profit pursue eradication of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents.

Without aid, more than 5 million people in Somalia could face acute food insecurity by the end of 2020 due to the combined effects of flooding, the desert locust infestation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other challenges, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Devastating flooding along the White Nile River has affected some 625,000 people in South Sudan since July, United Nations humanitarian officials in that country report.  The United Nations and partners are providing food, temporary shelter, fishing kits, water purification tablets, medicine and other supplies.

The World Meteorological Organization launched today FOCUS-Africa, an $8.2 million initiative funded by the European Commission to increase resilience and adaptation in Southern Africa over the next four years.  It will deliver tailored services in agriculture and food security, water, energy and infrastructure.

In Sudan, nearly 720,000 people have been affected by floods, with more than 100 deaths reported, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  While the United Nations and its partners have reached 200,000 with health, food and other assistance, the $1.6 billion Humanitarian Response Plan is less than half funded.

The United Nations flagship initiative to garner collective engagement on peacekeeping will soon shift to the second phase of implementation, to prepare missions for future challenges, the head of the Organization’s peace operations told the Security Council in a 14 September videoconference meeting.

A survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund found that 535,500 children in Burkina Faso under five years old are acutely malnourished, including 156,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are at imminent risk of death.  Community health workers have been mobilized to screen and treat children in the most remote areas.