Author: Web Desk

UNITED NATIONS— The United Nations (UN) on Saturday strongly condemned an attack on an airfield in southeastern Central African Republic (CAR) which left a Moroccan peacekeeper dead.

 

The attack against UN peacekeepers at the Obo airfield on Thursday happened during a UN-led operation to secure the perimeter of the airfield to allow planes to land.

 

In his statement released via his spokesperson’s office, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and expressed his deepest condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and to the kingdom and people of Morocco.

 

He said that such attacks “may constitute war crimes under international law” and called on the CAR government “to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this tragedy so that they can be brought to justice swiftly.”

 

The Security Council issued a statement late on Friday, condemning the attack “in the strongest terms,” stressing that anybody found to be involved in the planning, direction or sponsoring of such attacks could be sanctioned.

 

One of the poorest countries in the world, CAR is beset by violence between feuding domestic groups, ethnic tension and raids by international armed groups.

 

 

Source: Nam News Network

PANAMA CITY— An international conference on trade in endangered species ended in Panama, with protections established for over 500 species.

 

The measures were approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known by its initials as CITES.

 

The conference agreed to tighten trade regulations on sharks targeted by the fin trade and tiny frogs with translucent skin.

 

Global shark populations are declining, with annual deaths due to fisheries reaching about 100 million. The sharks are sought mostly for their fins, which are used in shark fin soup, a popular delicacy in China and elsewhere in Asia.

 

Over two weeks, the 184-nation gathering sought to combat trade in species facing extinction.

 

The international wildlife trade treaty, which was adopted 49 years ago in Washington, US has been praised for helping stem the illegal and unsustainable trade in ivory and rhino horns as well as in whales and sea turtles.

 

The translucent or “glass” frogs have been hit hard by habitat loss, diseases and their popularity in the pet trade, said Joaquin de la Torre, the international director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW.

 

“We have been waiting for this for three years,” De la Torre said of the protections. “They are very charismatic species.”

 

The conference also voted to restrict trade in South American fresh-water turtles known as Matamata, whose spikey, pre-historic appearance has made them popular among collectors.

 

CITES approved 46 of the 52 proposals presented, including restrictions on dozens of tree species.

 

Fans of hippos, found in more than three dozen African countries and regulars in nature documentaries, had hoped the convention would ban commercial trade, but that proposal was not approved.

 

The proposal to ban the hippo trade was opposed by the European Union, some African countries and several conservation groups, who argue many countries have healthy hippo populations and that trade isn’t a factor in their decline.

 

Source: Nam News Network

“Check against delivery”

Thank you, dear Volodymyr, for convening us on this very important day.

This meeting falls on the Holodomor memorial day – when 90 years ago, hunger was used as a weapon by the Soviet Union against the Ukrainian people.

Today, Russia is again using food as a weapon.

As part of its brutal aggression against Ukraine, Russia has destroyed your agricultural production, targeted your grain silos, and blockaded your ports.

Thus Russia is depriving of vital access to food the most vulnerable countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

And then it uses disinformation to blame others for its despicable actions.

We must continue to fight back against this.

Your initiative “Grain from Ukraine”, which has my full support, is crucial to our efforts.

You are showing unwavering commitment to global food security, international responsibility and solidarity with those most in need.

And we stand by your side.

In Bali, G20 leaders called for global solidarity to fight hunger caused by Russia’s war of aggression.

We will not falter in our responsibilities and will continue to do everything we can on this front.

The Solidarity Lanes established by the Commission and bordering Member States are a major success.

Since May, they have enabled the export of more than 17 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and food products.

And they are the only option for the export of all other, non-agricultural Ukrainian goods to the rest of the world.

The Solidarity Lanes have become a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy, bringing more than 19 billion euros of much-needed income to Ukrainian farmers and businesses.

The European Commission, together with Financial Institutions such as the EIB, the EBRD, and the World Bank, have now mobilised 1 billion euros of additional funding to boost the capacity of these Solidarity Lanes.

And we welcome the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for 120 days.

Taken together, the EU Solidarity Lanes and the Black Sea Grain Initiative have allowed the export of more than 28 million tonnes of agricultural products to the world market, especially to the countries most in need.

It is very important to signal to the world today that we will not let our most vulnerable partners down.

This is why I am very pleased to announce the support of the European Commission to load two ships with grain.

We will pay to transport 40,000 tons of grain which is the remainder of the grain that you have made available. Whatever the costs are.

90 years after the Holodomor, we honour the memory of Ukraine’s victims.

They died in silence, starving to death, and, at that time, the world did not rise to help them. We will not let this happen again.

As we come together with Ukraine today to help avert hunger around the world, we also stand with Ukraine as it mourns the innocent victims of the Holodomor.

And we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Slava Ukraini!

 

 

Source: European Commission

Humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the highest in the world. People in the DRC have been facing persistent conflict and violence for decades.

 

There are currently over 5.6 million displaced people within the country – the highest number in Africa. More than 1 million Congolese refugees live in neighbouring countries. Due to the conflict, children cannot stay in school or go back to it.

 

Raphaële, who works for EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, recently visited the South Kivu province in the DRC. Here, the EU and partners are running projects to support the construction and renovation of primary schools. Our funding also helps provide educational kits for children. Read her first-hand account.

 

Our convoy reaches the small village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province of the DRC, after a long drive on a bumpy dirt road running along a steep mountainside.

 

Physical access constraints and frequent clashes between local armed groups explain why remote communities in the Hauts and Moyens Plateaux of South Kivu receive few visitors.

 

The humanitarians in charge of the MERCI project (Multisector Emergency Response for Conflict Impacted populations) are among the exceptions. The project is funded by the EU and implemented by OXFAM Belgium and Street Child.

 

The goal of MERCI is to make a positive impact on the lives of more than 3,000 men, women and children heavily affected by the conflict, whether they are internally displaced populations, members of host communities, or returnees.

 

Education in emergencies

 

We stop in front of the village’s primary school. Immediately, dozens of children gather around the cars, welcoming us with curious eyes and shy smiles.

 

Many are wearing very simple uniforms and carrying brightly coloured backpacks: they form part of the educational kits that OXFAM and Street Child distributed to the young pupils at the start of the school year.

 

The project, launched a few months ago, includes the construction and renovation of 20 primary schools in 10 local communities.

 

Here, work has already started on one of the buildings: inside, the new cement floor is smooth and clean, and a large blackboard hangs on the wall.

 

Desks are still lacking in the classroom where far too many pupils are sitting together, but it is a decisive first step towards improving the learning conditions of children.

 

Caring for the environment

 

A few metres away from the school buildings, we visit the nursery garden.

 

The children have sown seeds which are already starting to grow. The small trees will later be planted around the school.

 

South Kivu’s forests are threatened by slash-and-burn farming as well as by the intensive use of wood as fuel to fire mud bricks and cook food. The project helps to raise community awareness about the need for reforestation.

 

Schools are the focal point of the MERCI intervention, which aims to protect vulnerable populations by creating a safer and more prosperous environment.

 

The smiling children who surround us are the promise of a better future for this conflict-torn community.

 

Story by Raphaële Magoni, Desk Officer DRC, EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

 

Source: European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Russia’s war in Ukraine passes 9-month milestone

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russia would not break his country, as nine months have passed since President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion. This week has been particularly bad, as Russia launched scores of missile attacks aimed at taking out the country’s power grid with winter temperatures dropping below freezing. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian president requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which he addressed by video. He urged the council to take “concrete steps to protect humanity and life” by adopting a resolution condemning any forms of “energy terror.”

He also repeated his call for U.N. experts to examine and assess critical infrastructure facilities in his country that have been or may be hit by Russian missiles. “Russia is doing everything to make the electric generator a more powerful and necessary tool than the U.N. Charter,” he said.

Human Rights Council orders investigation into crackdown on Iranian protesters

In a special session on Thursday, the Geneva-based Human Rights Council condemned Iran’s repression of peaceful demonstrators following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September and voted to create an international fact-finding mission to investigate the deadly crackdown. The 47-country council voted 25 in favor and 6 against — Armenia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan and Venezuela — with 16 abstentions. The U.N. rights office says more than 300 protesters, including at least 40 children, have been killed by security forces since the protests began two months ago. At least 14,000 protesters have been arrested and at least 21 of them face the death penalty.

Security Council urges Yemen’s Houthis to extend truce

Security Council members on Tuesday urged Yemen’s Houthi rebels to renew a truce that expired in October and to engage in substantive talks to end the more than eight-year-old conflict. A two-month-long truce was originally agreed to on April 2 for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It led to a drop in civilian casualties and some relief in importing fuel and resuming commercial flights. The parties renewed it twice, but it expired on October 2 and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have not agreed to extend it.

In brief

— The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that more than 50,000 people worldwide have lost their lives during migratory journeys since IOM’s Missing Migrants Project began documenting deaths in 2014. IOM noted the lack of action by governments in countries of origin, transit and destination to address the issue of missing migrants. More than 60% of missing migrants remain unidentified, according to the report. Of those whose nationality could be identified, more than 9,000 were from Africa, over 6,500 were from Asia and another 3,000 were from the Americas. More than half of the deaths occurred on routes to and inside Europe, with Mediterranean routes claiming over 25,000 lives.

— Several U.N. human rights experts said Friday that the Afghan Taliban’s treatment of women and girls may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity. Despite pledges to the contrary, the Taliban has increasingly tightened restrictions on females since taking power in August 2021. The de facto authorities have reimposed dress codes, prohibited most women from working outside the home, cut them off from secondary education and, most recently, forbidden them from going to parks and gyms. The U.N. experts, which include several special rapporteurs, said confining women to their homes is ‘tantamount to imprisonment” and is likely leading to more domestic violence and mental health challenges.

— U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday that Washington would seek international condemnation of North Korea’s November 18 intercontinental ballistic missile test. The test was Pyongyang’s eighth ICBM launch this year and part of a record 63 ballistic missile launches in 2022. At the U.N. Security Council, Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. would propose a presidential statement – one step below a council resolution. But such a statement requires all 15 members to agree, and Russia and China signaled they would block such a measure. To date, no statement has been adopted.

— The U.N. said Wednesday that the U.N. coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Amir Abdulla, is stepping down from his position for personal reasons. The secretary-general expressed his gratitude for Abdulla’s work. His deputy, Ben Parker, will act as officer in charge for the U.N. at the joint coordination center in Istanbul until the position is filled. Since the initiative was signed in late July, nearly 12 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs have been exported from three Ukrainian ports.

— U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer said on November 19 that she was encouraged by the announcement of the mass release of detainees in Myanmar. She repeated calls for the immediate release of all children and political prisoners, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The country’s military junta said it would release nearly 5,800 prisoners to mark national day on November 17.

Quote of Note

“The old methods and the fortress mentality of those who wield power simply don’t work. In fact, they only aggravate the situation. We are now in a full-fledged human rights crisis.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk at Thursday’s special session on the Iranian government’s crackdown on protesters.

What we are watching next week

Friday marks the International Day for the Elimination for Violence against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Secretary-General Guterres is calling on governments to increase funding to women’s rights groups and organizations.

 

 

 

Source: Voice of America

This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African region. This week’s articles cover:

• Ebola Disease caused by Sudan virus in Uganda
• Cholera in Kenya

For each of these events, a brief description, followed by public health measures implemented and an interpretation of the situation is provided.

A table is provided at the end of the bulletin with information on all new and ongoing public health events currently being monitored in the region, as well as recent events that have been controlled and closed.

 

 

Source: World Health Organization