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.
Niger military refuses to hand back power
West African regional bloc ECOWAS’s Sunday deadline to return Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum to power is approaching, but there appears to be no movement to get soldiers from the presidential guard to comply. The United Nations continues to carry out humanitarian operations in the country, resuming some aid flights this week. West Africa envoy Leonardo Santos Simão has been to Ghana and Mali and is in touch with ECOWAS. The U.N. says Simão is “trying to make the case for the peaceful resolution of the situation and for the restoration to power of the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.”
West African Military Chiefs Draw Up Intervention Plan as Niger Talks Falter
Blinken announces millions to combat food insecurity
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $362 million in new funding on Thursday to tackle drivers of food insecurity and enhance resilience in nearly a dozen African countries and Haiti. He also called out Russia for the consequences of its war in Ukraine on that country and global hunger during a U.N. Security Council meeting he chaired on global food insecurity.
Blinken Criticizes Russia for Impact of War on Global Hunger
Watch more on the meeting from VOA State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine:
Blinken Singles Out Russia for ‘Assault’ on Global Food Supply
Interview: U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield sat down with VOA during a very busy start to Washington’s council presidency. She spoke to VOA on Friday about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative have affected international food security. She also discussed U.S. concerns about the attempted military coup in Niger, relations with China at the U.N. and other priority issues for the United States.
US Envoy: Some Americans Leaving Niger, Embassy Remains Open
UN science advisers say Australia’s Great Barrier Reef safe for now
United Nations scientific advisers said that Australia has taken positive steps to protect the Great Barrier Reef since a U.N. monitoring mission visited Queensland in March 2022. It won’t — for now — be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site “in danger.” However, UNESCO said Monday that the reef remains under “serious threat.” It wants Australia to report on progress to enhance the 2,300-kilometer reef’s long-term resilience by February 1, 2024.
No UN ‘In Danger’ Listing for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Good news
Afghanistan and Pakistan have reported a very small number of polio infections in their region this year, fueling expectations the neighboring countries could be just months away from interrupting the endemic transmission of the crippling virus. A World Health Organization official in the region said the two countries have never been this close to eradicating the virus at the same time.
WHO: Afghanistan, Pakistan Close to Eradicating Polio
In brief
— Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed Kenya’s offer to “positively consider” leading a multinational police force to help stabilize Haiti. Haiti’s prime minister appealed to the international community in October to send help, as the island nation is in the grip of gang violence. Kenya said it will formalize its offer once the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution with a mandate for the non-U.N. force. It plans to send an assessment mission to Haiti in the coming weeks.
— The U.N. says more than 6 million people in Sudan are now one step away from famine. Across the country, more than 20 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. This is due to conflict, economic decline and mass displacement. Since violence erupted on April 15 between rival military factions, more than 3 million people have been displaced inside Sudan. The U.N. Refugee Agency says more than 855,000 others have fled to neighboring countries.
— High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the new 19-year prison sentence imposed on Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny on Friday raises “renewed serious concerns about judicial harassment and instrumentalization of the court system for political purposes in Russia.” He said the sentence was based on “vague and overly broad charges of ‘extremism’” during a closed trial and called for his release. Navalny is already serving two other sentences amounting to more than 11 years.
— The World Health Organization said Monday that smoking rates are falling and lives are being saved as more countries implement policies and controls to curb the global tobacco epidemic. New data show that the adoption of WHO’s package of six tobacco control measures in 2008 has protected millions of people from the harmful effects of tobacco use. Without them, WHO says, there would likely be 300 million more smokers in the world today. However, 44 countries with a total population of about 2.3 billion people have not implemented any of WHO’s controls on tobacco.
— The secretary-general created a new Scientific Advisory Board this week to advise U.N. leaders on breakthroughs in science and technology and how to harness their benefits and mitigate potential risks. Guterres said the new board would strengthen the U.N.’s role as a reliable source of data and evidence and would advise him and his senior management team. He named seven scientists and scholars to the board.
Quote of note
“We cannot accept the toll this war is taking on Sudan’s children, their families. We remember the outrage when the Darfur crisis was at its utmost horror. We cannot go back to that situation. So our message to the parties to the conflict is clear: Stop the fighting and commit to a durable cessation of hostilities.”
— UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban to reporters Friday on the situation facing children in Sudan, which has fallen into conflict. Chaiban recently visited the country and the border area with Chad, where many families have fled. He said nearly 14 million children in Sudan need humanitarian assistance. The U.N. children’s agency is appealing for $400 million to sustain its crisis response for the next 100 days.
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