World News

UN says humanitarian aid delivery continuing in Niger Republic

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The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Niger says aid continues to be delivered to people in need amid the uneasy situation in the country.

UN deputy spokesperson for the secretary general, Farhan Haq, said this at a news conference in New York on Tuesday.

“Last week, we and our partners carried out some 200 humanitarian field missions. Food distributions are underway in Diffa, in the east of the country, which hosts internally displaced people, refugees and returnees,” Mr Haq explained.

“Humanitarian agencies are also preparing to distribute cash.”

The spokesperson added that the secretary general Antonio Guterres was concerned about the continued detention of President Mohamed Bazoum, the health and well-being of other detainees, and the failure so far to restore constitutional order in Niger.

He reiterated his support for the ongoing mediation efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Answering a question on the diplomatic mission and humanitarian access to Niger, Mr Haq said they were separate issues.

He, however, noted that whereas there was need for humanitarian operations to be carried out on the one hand, on the other hand, there was the political process.

“On the humanitarian side, the secretary general calls for safe and unhindered access for the UN in the country, as well as the need to guarantee the continued operation of our humanitarian air services to allow the safe passage of humanitarian goods and services into Niger,” stated Mr Haq.

He further stated, “So that’s what we’re pushing for on that side. On the political side, our special representative, Leonardo Santos Simão, is currently in Abuja, Nigeria, where he’s actively engaging with relevant stakeholders.

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and he will participate in the extraordinary summit on Niger this Thursday that has been announced by ECOWAS.”

World News

United Nations’ chief urges Russia to resume Black Sea grain deal

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UN secretary general António Guterres has called on the Russian Federation to return to implementing the Black Sea Grain Initiative along the lines of his proposals.

Deputy spokesperson for the secretary general Farhan Haq said this while briefing journalists on Monday in New York on the participation of Guterres at the ongoing UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) in Rome, Italy.

Commenting on the recent decision by Russia to terminate the Black Sea Initiative, Mr Haq pointed out the secretary-general said the picture had grown bleaker, given that the initiative had enabled the safe export of more than 32 million tonnes of food from Ukrainian ports.

The Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Federation to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports have been lifelines for global food security and price stability.

“The secretary general reiterated his commitment to facilitating the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilisers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation,’’ he said.

He urged the global community to unite for immediate solutions in this essential effort.

Mr Haq also had bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Sierra Leone, Nepal and Armenia. While in Rome, Mr Gutteres would meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. He had met the president of Italy’s council of ministers, Giorgia Meloni.

The deputy spokesperson said that the UN chief attended the high-level event meant to build on the momentum of the 2021 Food Systems Summit.

The Italian government is hosting the meeting in collaboration with the Rome-based UN agencies, the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub and the wider UN system.

In his remarks at the event’s opening ceremony, the secretary-general underscored that global food systems were broken and billions of people were paying the price.He highlighted that broken food systems were not inevitable but the result of “choices we had made.”

“In a world of plenty, it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger,“ Mr Guterres told the delegates.

World News

United Nations celebrates Mandela’s human rights legacy

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The United Nations on Thursday celebrated the life and legacy of the first black president of post-apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013.

The commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day, celebrated on July 18, pays tribute to his fight for freedom and equality across the world.

Mr Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba, spent nearly three decades in jail for standing up to human rights abuses and severe injustices against black South Africans.

He was released in 1990 and elected president four years later in the country’s first-ever multiracial elections.

At a ceremony held at UN headquarters in New York, UN top officials extolled Mr Mandela’s heroic virtues.

Csaba Kőrösi, president of the UN General Assembly, said Mr Mandela’s remarkable journey served as an example of transformation through forgiveness as he bequeathed a multiracial, democratic South Africa vastly different from the racist state he was born into.

“Madiba’s lifelong commitment to human rights embodies a founding principle of this organisation: We cannot leave anyone behind,” he added.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called Mr Mandela one of humanity’s greatest heroes.“Nelson Mandela was a colossus of courage and conviction,” he said.

How do we pay tribute to such a giant? Through words of respect, certainly. But we best honour Madiba through action.”

Mr Guterres called for action against racism, discrimination, and hate to “extinguish the legacies of colonialism,” appealing that equality, human rights “and above all, justice” should be promoted.

The UN chief said the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed global inequalities and “three years on, the need to bridge the global justice gap is more urgent than ever.”

He pointed to injustice at the heart of the international financial system rooted in colonialism. He said that Africa is still underrepresented in global financial architecture, and the continent lacks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

He recalled that Mr Mandela addressed these issues in a speech to the UN nearly 30 years ago, arguing against the uneven distribution of resources and decision-making power.“The world is still waiting for change,” Mr Guterres said.

“Ultimately, we need fundamental reform of the international financial system. But we must also support developing economies with concrete steps we can take today.”

Politics

UN secretary general Guterres congratulates Tinubu, seeks stronger ties

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UN secretary general Antonio Guterres on Tuesday congratulated Bola Tinubu on his inauguration as the 16th Nigerian president.

Mr Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said this while fielding questions at UN headquarters in New York.

“Nigeria is an important partner of the United Nations, has an important role to play in the promotion of sustainable development, in the promotion of peace and security in the region and beyond,” Mr Dujarric explained.

“And we look forward to deepening the ties between Nigeria and the United Nations.”

In a related development, the UN secretary general also congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his reelection as president of Türkiye.

World News

UN accuses Iraqi authorities, others of kidnapping up to one million people

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Following a series of disappearances of up to a million, the United Nations, through one of its watchdog committees, called on the government of Iraq to stop the practice of forced disappearances and abductions, which the figures showed a damning rise in the past five decades.

On Tuesday, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances expressed “deep concerns” over the alarming increase in the rate of forced disappearances, which began in Iraq in 1968.

The committee’s assessment consisting of 10 experts was based on their visit to the country in November 2022.

“The Iraqi state has not yet criminalised enforced disappearances,” said Mohammed Ayat, committee vice-chair.

“It is therefore understandable in this context to remind Iraq of the extreme urgency to criminalise enforced disappearance in the terms of the convention. The committee recommends the eradication of the omnipresent impunity of enforced disappearance.”

Out of the 1,577 complaints received from 22 countries by the committee for urgent actions to investigate forced disappearances in the last two weeks, Iraq topped the list of countries with the most cases.

There were 578 cases sent from the country.Despite all efforts at the UN Human Rights Committee’s 2010 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, Iraq has not criminalised the act, with several reports of forced disappearances received by the committee during their visit.

During the visit, the committee met with victims of forced disappearances, including those that happened in the heat of the U.S. military invasion, which began in 2003, and during the proclamation of an Islamic caliphate over part of the territory of Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIL).

Iraqi military and security forces were said to be complicit in the act, with documented reports saying there were new rounds of abductions and mass killings when Islamic State militants were in control of some parts of the country between 2014 to 2017.

Politics

UN condemns killing of 10 security operatives during presidential poll

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The United Nations on Wednesday condemned the election-related violence, especially the killing of 10 law enforcement agents and security personnel, as well as hate speech in Nigeria.

UN spokesman Stephanie Dujarric said this while fielding questions on the reports of violence in the just-concluded elections.

“We clearly condemn any violence, especially in an electoral period – I mean, violence across the board. It is incumbent on political parties, on civic leaders to work to avoid any violence, to avoid any inflammatory speech. And again, this applies to any electoral process,’’ he said.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) dashboard showed three bomb attacks in Anambra, Borno and Rivers.The NHRC recorded two attacks on INEC facilities, two attacks by gunmen, 12 political intolerance, and 15 hate speech reports, including the killing of 10 security operatives, destruction of properties at Gombe and Anambra, political intolerance cutting off roads in Kogi.

It also reported the stoning of Governor Mai Mala Buni at an APC rally in Yobe and the cancellation of a PDP rally in Rivers.

In addition, 55 accounts of voter intimidation and suppression were recorded in the South-West-55, 40 were recorded in the South-South, 25 in the South-East, 12 in North-Central, three in North-West, and two in the North-East.Political violence was also witnessed in an attack on NNPP supporters recorded in Kano and on APC political campaigns in Bauchi.

Similarly, there was an attack on the Labour House of Representatives candidate in Imo.

There was another attack on the wife of the PDP candidate in Zamfara and the attack on the first lady convoy in Nasarawa.

There was also an attack on the PDP campaign director-general, Rivers and Lagos attacks on Labour Party supporters.

Lifestyle

Fake United Nations doctor arrested at Abuja hospital

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An impostor, one Obiako Chukwuemeka pretending to be a medical doctor working with the United Nations as a humanitarian aid at the National Hospital, Abuja has been uncovered and handed over to the police.

An impeccable source within the Federal Capital Territory Police Command confirmed to our correspondent that Chukwuemeka whose origin and age are yet unknown, has since been detained pending his arraignment.

The source said,

“The National Hospital Abuja, handed over a fake doctor, one Obiako Chukwuemeka who disguised as a UN doctor on humanitarian aid, to the police at Central Police Station on Thursday.“He is currently in our custody, and will soon be charged to court.”

This comes about a week after the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, accused visitors from neighbouring states, traders, and beggars of being behind the security breaches witnessed in Abuja, adding that his administration would send them packing.

“The Security agencies in the FCT have up their game. People who have no business being here, are being sent away. Some of them come under different guises such as begging, street trading, among others.

They usually come from neighbouring states and are causing security breaches here. That is why we have decided to send them out.”

Bello said in a statement on Friday, August 26, 2022.The FCT Police Commissioner, Sunday Babaji, has also said the G-7 Joint Security Operation that was being revived had received the support of sister security agencies as well as the Commissioners of Police in the member-states, who had all agreed on the need to collectively flush-out these criminals.

He revealed that the security agencies have gathered useful and actionable intelligence and would soon go after all criminals within its jurisdiction.

Politics, World News

The time is coming’ – Donald Trump drops hint of potential 2024 presidential run

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Donald Trump has dropped a major hint about a potential 2024 presidential bid while blasting President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The former president told fellow Republicans ‘the time is coming’ for him to make a formal announcement about his next bid for the White House.

Trump said he believes ‘people are going to be very happy’ with his decision while noting that America has ‘lost everything’ under Biden’s leadership

The Republican also confirmed during his address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas last week, that he will be making his plans to run for office public in the near future. ‘It’s certainly not a very long period, the time is coming,’ Trump said Saturday when Fox News asked when Republicans could expect a formal announcement. ‘I think people are going to be very happy, our country has never been in a position like this, we’ve lost everything.’

He argued the nation was facing both domestic and foreign policy crises, stating America lost its ‘prestige’ when Biden withdrew US troops from Afghanistan last year.

He also claimed the US is a ‘nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse.

Trump complained that Biden turned ‘the safest border in US history by far’ into ‘the worst border ever in history.’ ‘Just last month, an illegal alien here in Texas was indicted for the cold blooded murders of four elderly women throughout the state.

And he’s been linked to the deaths of at least 24 people,’ he said. ‘What we do in the next few months and the next few years will determine whether American civilization will collapse and fail or whether it will thrive, frankly like never before.’

Trump also commented on the 2020 election, which he continues to maintain was ‘rigged and stolen.’ ‘The election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being systematically destroyed.

And everybody knows it. I ran twice and won twice,’ he declared. ‘America is on the edge of an abyss. And our movement is the only force on Earth that can save it.

We have to seize this opportunity to deal with the radical left socialists and fascists.’ His remarks came shortly after the CPAC unveiled a poll showing the former president as an ‘overwhelming favorite’ for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Trump captured nearly 70 percent of the ballots cast at the conference. DeSantis was a distant second at 23.7 percent.

World News

3.9m Ukrainian refugees have fled since Russian invasion —UN

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A United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) report on Tuesday said nearly 3.9 million refugees have so far fled Ukraine since the invasion of the country by Russia on February 24.

As the invasion enters day 34, the UN Refugee Agency said the figures will continue to grow as Russia intensifies its attacks and the bombing of civilian enclaves.

“As at Monday, March 28, around 3,862,797 Ukrainians had fled the country, an increase of 41,748 from Sunday’s figures. Around 90 percent of them are women and children,” the report said.

It added that of the figure, 2.2 million fled into neighbouring Poland, while more than half a million have made it to Romania and nearly 300,000 have gone to Russia.

“In total, more than 10 million people which is over a quarter of the population in regions under government control before the February 24 invasion, are now thought to have fled their homes, including nearly 6.5 million who are internally displaced,” it said.

Also in a report by the UN Children’s agency, UNICEF, around 4.3 million children, more than half of Ukraine’s estimated 7.5 million child population, had been forced to leave their homes.

UNICEF said about 1.5 million the number of those children have become refugees, while another 2.5 million are displaced inside their war-ravaged country.

“The number leaving daily has fallen well below 100,000 per day, and even 50,000 in recent days, even as living conditions in Ukraine worsen.

Politics

UN launches portal to provide data on Africa’s SDG journey

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Seventeen regional United Nations entities, under Africa Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP), on Tuesday, unveiled the Africa UN Data for Development Platform, an online portal that brings together statistical data harvested across all countries on the continent.

According to the group, the platform would simplify the process of measuring and evaluating the progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa.

This is the first time a platform would be launched to serve as a one-stop-shop repository that captures high-quality data and evidence on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs from all the African countries.

It is also the first of its kind to raise the profile of statistical progress toward the African Union vision – Agenda 2063.

“Reliable and collective data will allow all actors to make the best possible evidence-based policy action to accelerate the SDGs, strengthen collaboration, avoid unnecessary duplication and make sure that we can address gaps, really leaving no one behind,” she said.

She stressed that the new data portal looks into the 17 SDGs and breaks them down into their 169 targets and 231 indicators, allowing everyone to track progress at the granular level.

In his remarks, Vice President of Malawi, Dr Saulos Chilima, said, “Presenting comprehensive, practical data sets will especially help us, government civil servants, to monitor progress, make sound decisions, and evaluate outcomes and impacts. This data platform is a long-awaited online tool for us to carry out in-depth analyses and progress assessments at the target and indicator levels, and link them with our national development plans.”

On his part, the Director of the ECA Africa Centre for Statistics, Oliver Chinganya, said, “Africa is a continent with great potential and clear aspirations as articulated in the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063. The transformation requires quality, timely and disaggregated data to guide targeted investments and ensure that the desired returns in its human capital development, environmental sustainability, economic transformation and prosperity for all.”

Statisticians at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) had raised concerns that among the 169 targets set out in the SDGs only 30 per cent of them is quantifiable.

They argued that the online platform would propose target values for the unquantifiable targets by using a pragmatic and ambitious approach, saying it would identify the region’s outstanding countries and sets their average rate of change as the region’s target rate.

Remarking on the initiative, the Regional Director ad interim of UNFPA East and Southern Africa, and OIBC 1 co-convener, Dr Bannet Ndyanabangi, said, “The aim is to reduce the burden on countries in terms of responding to data needs and avoid repeated data requests from various organizations. This portal brings fragmented data from member states into one place and this information can also, be used by UN agencies and other partners.”

Building on the existing infrastructure developed by ECA, the Africa UN data portal consolidates statistics from platforms and technological tools available at the UN entities.

The new data engine also gives users the ability to classify the statistics by various dimensions, such as the eight regional economic communities recognised by the African Union, least developed countries, landlocked developing nations, and oil-producing mineral-rich states.

Additionally, it repackages the data by key thematic issues. For example, users can categorize SDG indicators by agriculture, energy and health, allowing them to not only analyze the specific progress at the country level but also examine the convergence, similarities and differences among a variety of subregional blocs and topics.

The portal is open to all users, including policymakers, planners, programme managers, development partners, private sector organisations, civil society groups, academic institutions, researchers, students, media outlets and many others and can be used in progress reports on the SDGs and other sustainable development documents.

Politics

Yoruba group petitions United Nations against Ilana Omo Oodua

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A group, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) on Monday, petitioned the United Nations over a plan by the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, to present a petition against the Nigerian government at the 76th General Assembly of the UN.

The petition was served to the UN alongside its five permanent members: the European Union, the African Union and representatives of other countries.

In the document, YAF urged the UN and its other recipients to bar Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies from attending the UNGA where it planned on presenting a petition against the Federal Government of Nigeria.

According to the group, the petition in question was written to destabilise the country.

The statement reads: “the ultimate objective of this plan by the group is to achieve nothing salutary or beneficial to the people of Nigeria but to further their evil design to undermine and bring down the country and the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, out of sheer malice over the forthcoming 2023 general elections.”

Signed by YAF National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, the petition further accused Ilana Omo Oodua of funding “the violent activities of the self-styled Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Igboho, currently undergoing trial in the Benin Republic.

Ripples Nigeria reported that the Prof Banji-Akintoye-led Ilana Omo Oodua had recently disclosed intent to attend the 76th UNGA scheduled for September to present a petition to the global organisation over its demand for a separate and independent Yoruba Nation from the Nigerian state.

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