18 December 2013 – The top United Nations envoy in Somalia has strongly condemned the killing of six people during an attack on a medical convoy outside Mogadishu today. “Somalia, still struggling to build up its health services, relies on the goodwill of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and medical personnel who work in incredibly difficult conditions to save Somali lives,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, in a statement. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), which Mr. Kay heads, reports indicate that a convoy carrying medical personnel to a health facility west of…
Author: UN News
18 December 2013 – The Security Council, deeply concerned over the increasing links between drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime in West Africa, today emphasized the need to enhance regional cooperation and develop effective strategies to combat this growing threat. In a number of measures outlined in a Presidential Statement, the 15-member body called on countries in West Africa and the Sahel region to strengthen border management to effectively constrain the spread of transnational threats, such as drug trafficking. “To this aim, it encourages Member States and relevant organizations, as appropriate, to enhance cooperation and strategies to…
18 December 2013 – Amid the ongoing fighting in South Sudan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is reaching out to key leaders in the region seeking a political end to the crisis, while the Security Council has urged all parties to immediately cease hostilities and exercise restraint to prevent the further spread of violence. Mr. Ban told reporters in New York that the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is in the process of verifying reports that many people have been killed and injured amid the factional fighting, which has uprooted thousands of civilians in recent days. Media reports say that hundreds…
18 December 2013 – The Security Council today extended the mandates of judges at the United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst atrocities committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. With 14 members voting in favour and Russia abstaining, the Council extended until the end of December 2014 the terms of 17 permanent and ad litem judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The judges are all members of the Trial Chambers and the Appeals Chamber and have until 31 December 2014 or until the completion of the cases to which they…
17 December 2013 – With the lives of nearly six million children disrupted by the typhoon that devastated the Philippines a month ago, 1.4 million of whom lost their family homes, the United Nations is forging ahead with long-term programmes to restore schooling, protection, vaccination and other child services. “While I had followed the reports of progress closely from UNICEF’s New York Headquarters, no statistics can adequately capture the physical and human challenges that remain,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake said today in Manila at the end of four-day visit to the Philippines. He was deeply impressed,…
17 December 2013 – Despite volatility and uncertainty, Afghanistan continues to make progress in enhancing its stability as the drawdown continues for the international forces that have sought to bring security there for the past 12 years, the top United Nations envoy in the strife-torn country said today. But international support will be required through at least another decade for the ambitious security, political and economic transformations envisaged, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Ján Kubiš told the Security Council. “We must resolutely continue working together to ensure a sovereign and sustainable State that will never again become a haven for…
17 December 2013 – Despite commendable efforts by leaders of West African countries, the region remains fragile and continues to require ongoing support from the United Nations and the international community, particularly to stem the rise of organized crime, a UN envoy today told the Security Council. Briefing the 15-member Council, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, Said Djinnit, reiterated “the need to assist countries in the region and their regional institutions to better understand the causes of their vulnerability to terrorism, and the factors feeding this growing threat.” This point was emphasized at a brainstorming session organized…
17 December 2013 – The United Nations refugee agency is working with the Government of Sudan and partners to reduce the number of kidnappings and incidents of trafficking and smuggling in, through and out of the country. “Those most vulnerable are the newly arrived asylum-seekers, mainly of Eritrean origin, who cross the border into Eastern Sudan,” according to a joint news release by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The strategy, which strengthens the capacity of the Government, also provides care and psychosocial support for victims, and builds awareness of risks among…
17 December 2013 – The United Nations refugee agency said today it has deployed additional emergency teams in the Central African Republic (CAR), where some 210,000 people have been forcibly displaced by violence in the last two weeks in the embattled capital, Bangui. “In Bangui, our staff are reporting continued shooting and a mood of widespread fear,” Adrian Edwards, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva. He added that on Monday, on the outskirts of the city, UNHCR staff came across some 40,000 people who had been uprooted on 5 and 6 December, but…
17 December 2013 – Amid reports of continued clashes today in South Sudan, senior United Nations officials are calling for restraint and protection of civilians, regardless of their communities. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), whose members are fighting with each other in the capital, Juba, “to impose discipline on their forces and to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force.” “It is essential that the Government guarantees the security of all civilians,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement released last night, noting the risk of targeted violence against certain…