Africa 

Security situation in Sahel remains very worrying, Security Council warned

“Non-State armed groups continue to carry out large-scale attacks against civilian and military targets and engage in clashes over access to resources, territorial control and influence,” said Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, part of the political and peacebuilding affairs department, and UN Peace Operations. The Council was meeting to assess the state of the G5 Sahel… Read More
Africa 

Road Safety Week: African nations steer towards reducing deaths

Increasingly grim accident statistics provided the impetus for action, including two bus crashes in Senegal that claimed 62 lives in January. In nearby Côte d’Ivoire, the daily number of fatal road accidents has risen to 46, from just 12 in 2012. In the world’s region most affected by road crashes, sub-Saharan Africa’s fatality rate is 27 per 100,000 inhabitants. That… Read More
Africa 

Sudan’s warring generals take ‘important first step’ on humanitarian protection

Volker Perthes – Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the country (UNITAMS) – underscored that the rival military leaderships had agreed to respect international humanitarian and human rights law, and withdraw fighters from hospitals and medical facilities. Mr. Perthes also noted that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the… Read More
Africa 

Moura: Over 500 killed by Malian troops, foreign military personnel in 2022 operation

That’s according to a fact-finding report from the UN human rights office (OHCHR) released on Friday, on what the Malian authorities had described as an anti-terrorist military operation against an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Katiba Macina. The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, called the findings “extremely disturbing” and stressed that “summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and… Read More
Africa 

New arrest warrants seek justice for victims in Libya, ICC prosecutor says

To date, four warrants have been issued and two others are in the application process, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said, highlighting this key step as recognizing the rights of victims to justice. “If this Council’s referrals are to be vindicated, it requires everyone to step up,” he said. “Partnerships are key to justice.” The Council had referred the case to… Read More
Africa 

Sudan violence threatens fragile cross-border progress with Juba

“The outbreak of violence in the Sudan may deeply impact the chance for political progress on Abyei and border issues,” Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, told the Council. Security in Abyei, a disputed oil-rich border region straddling both African nations, had been a point of contention,… Read More
Africa 

Sudan crisis: Guterres condemns looting of main WFP compound in Khartoum

In a statement issued by his Spokesperson, António Guterres noted that “most, if not all, United Nations agencies and our humanitarian partners, have been impacted by large-scale looting”, since the military power struggle between the national army and rival RSF militia began, which fighting now entering a fourth week. Speaking to journalists at the daily UN briefing on Monday, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, said… Read More