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Gains by Abyei interim force can help advance resolution of border issues between Sudan and South Sudan, UN peacekeeping chief says

“This modest shift in the mission’s role is necessary to match the reality on the ground,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations said during a briefing to the Security Council on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the work of the UN Interim Security Force, known by the acronym UNISFA.   

He explained that a civilian component would enable the mission to support the parties, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel and the African Union Commission to advance daily solutions.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Peace Operations, briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Sudan and South Sudan including the situation in Abyei.

 

“The proposed support is particularly pertinent given the difficult internal circumstances in both countries,” noted Mr. Lacroix, adding: “It is important to prevent the dispute over Abyei and the border regions between Sudan and South Sudan from becoming another frozen conflict and preserve the gains achieved by UNISFA.”

Stressing that while the situation generally remains calm – amid efforts by the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities to preserve peace through dialogue – Sudan and South Sudan have made no progress on the issue of Abyei.

Further, there have been delays in the Council’s request to reconfigure the mission, he said. The first phase of troop reductions – a repatriation of 260 troops by 15 March – has not taken place, but efforts are under way to start the process on 12 May. 

As for the increase in police personnel, while the selection of police officers and the formed police unit has been completed, 130 visas from the Sudanese Government, necessary for their deployment, remain outstanding.

Against this background, Mr. Lacroix said that while UNISFA continues to play a stabilizing role in the Abyei Area and along the border regions, the operation can only provide a conducive environment for the parties, whose own efforts remain essential to progress.

“I am encouraged by the significantly improved relations between the two countries in the past year, as evidenced by Sudan’s role in facilitating the revitalized peace agreement reached by the South Sudanese parties and the resumption of joint oil operations,” he told the Council, urging the two countries to continue this “positive trajectory” and extend their cooperation to move forward on the resolution of their disputes.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Sudan and South Sudan including the situation in Abyei.

Gains in relations between Sudan and South Sudan should not be lost

Also briefing the Council, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, said that both id Sudan and South Sudan “are at a crossroads with critical political processes under way.”

Following the ouster of Sudan’s President on 11 April after months of popular protests, the new authorities may need time to resume bilateral relations on the border, the Two Areas and Abyei. 

“We have a de facto status quo situation,” he said. In the absence of a joint administration and progress on Abyei’s final status, UNISFA remains central to preventing and resolving intercommunal conflicts.

In the coming weeks, he will encourage the respective capitals, Khartoum and Juba, to take a fresh look at the Abyei file, with a focus on implementing temporary arrangements for the Area’s administration. 

Noting that Sudan’s political transition could allow for redefining relations between the “centre” and its “peripheries” in a way that ends discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and territorial belonging, he said he will encourage parties to resolve the conflicts on the basis of a new political dispensation.

‘Action and tangible progress’ needed to finally ‘win the peace’ for Syrians: UN envoy

Geir Pedersen, in his second briefing in the job to the UN Security Council in New York, said he had been “doing everything I can” in the past eight weeks, to consult and help bring the “key players” closer together both inside and outside the country.

“Even where violence has abated, the toll of suffering remains staggering”, he said. “There is a desperate need to meet the humanitarian and protection needs of Syrians across the country.”

He noted the “terrible situation” facing 73,000 in the overcrowded Al Hol camp, where many of the families of former extremist fighters, are alongside those displaced by the fall of ISIL – 92 per cent of them women and children.

Helping facilitate “concrete action” over those detained or abducted during eight years of war, would be “an important confidence building measure” said Mr. Pedersen, highlighting also the fate of tens of thousands who have gone missing. “The scale of this issue is of unprecedented proportions. It obliges us to continue our collective attempts to make progress”, he said, adding it would take “months if not year of meticulous and committed work.”

UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Geir Pederson, the UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, addresses the Security Council on 30 April 2019.

Scale of suffering ‘weighs heavily on me’

For a political solution to work, it would have to meet the aspirations of the people said the Special Envoy, saying that only weeks into the role, the “terrible scale” of suffering “and the uncertain future of millions, weighs heavily on me, as it should us all.”

The Women’s Advisory Board, he said, “continues to remind us of the specific security, economic and human rights concerns of Syrian women – women who bring diverse experiences and views to the table and share the right to have a voice at the table.”

He expressed optimism that the stalled negotiations over an inclusive Constitutional Committee, to draft a new political roadmap for Syria, could now move forward: “I believe the final terms of the mandate can be agreed, with a modicum of goodwill…Work continues to identify a set of names that, when viewed in totality, can have the support of all concerned” to serve, he added.

Finally, he called for further international engagement and support for a Syrian-led and owned process. “I remain convinced that key international players agree on far more than it might seem”, he said, noting that external intervention was “a hard reality of the conflict”.

“Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, must be respected and restored – but saying so will not make it so”, said Mr. Pedersen.

“External intervention poses real threats to international peace and security. Five international armies operate across Syria’s land and airspace, in tension or even in conflict, generating risks for dangerous escalation. These risks must be contained and ultimately removed”, he told Council members.

He concluded on an upbeat note, said progress was being made: “I hope that next time I brief you, I will be able to report tangible achievements on the long road to a political settlement.”

Ebola situation worsening in DR Congo, amidst growing ‘funding gap’ UN health agency warns

Following their visit to Butembo, to express gratitude and show support to staff, in the wake of the recent attack at a treatment centre that killed Doctor Richard Mouzoko and left two others injured, World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus and the agency’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, reiterated their commitment to “defeat Ebola”.

During the visit, Dr. Moeti and Mr. Tedros assessed the next steps needed to adjust the response, after meeting local political, business and religious leaders, calling on them to accelerate their efforts to help stabilize conditions on the ground.

“Most Ebola response activities, including community engagement, vaccination, and case investigation, have been re-launched following a slowdown in the wake of the attack, however a rise in reported cases in recent weeks is straining resources even further”, WHO said in the statement.

“We will continue to adjust the response, as we have done for each context in each community,” said Dr. Moeti, calling for action. “In the end, it is only through ownership by all the affected communities that the outbreak will end. Some would have Ebola drive us apart. We can only defeat it if we all work together”, she added.

“We are entering a phase where we will need major shifts in the response”, said Mr. Tedros, adding that the challenges can only be tackled if the international community steps in to “fill the sizeable funding gap”, which is around 50 per cent underfunded.

Pride and respect for WHO staff

The head of WHO said also in the statement that Dr. Mouzoko’s death had “moved him profoundly” and added that the much-respected epidemiologist deployed by the agency “was on his mind the whole time of the visit, as they met with other dedicated colleagues”.
Dr. Moeti underlined that colleagues have been through something “unimaginable and yet they were willing to continue the vital work”. 

Reiterating the importance of having the security situation under control for both staff and local people, she said WHO would continue to work with various groups and embed their response at the community level.

More than 1,200 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola have been recorded since the outbreak began, with more than 760 deaths confirmed. 

Libya: UN mobilized to support thousands uprooted by Tripoli clashes, renews call for humanitarian truce

“The escalation of attacks in residential areas, including the use of artillery, rockets and airstrikes is deeply worrying. Thousands of children, women and men’s lives are at risk,” Ms. Bachelet said, calling on all parties to fully respect international human rights and humanitarian law. 

“I remind all parties to the conflict that the use of explosive weapons with indiscriminate effects, in densely populated areas is a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law,” she stated. 

In her statement released on Tuesday, human rights High Commissioner Bachelet also expressed serious concerns about the safety of around 3,350 migrants and refugees, still held in detention centres near the conflict areas. “Migrants should be released from detention centres as a matter of urgency, and should have access to the same humanitarian protection as all civilians, including access to collective shelters or other safe places,” she stressed. 

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) echoed her call for a “temporary humanitarian truce to allow for the provision of emergency services and the safe and voluntary passage of civilians out of conflict-affected areas”. 

Fighting broke out in Tripoli at the beginning of April, when General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, began a military campaign to take Tripoli from fighters loyal to the UN-recognized Government. By the second week of the month, casualties were in the hundreds, and the number of displaced, in the thousands.  

To date, the UN has recorded close to 350 people killed, including 22 civilians, and over 1,650 wounded, including 74 civilians. Ms. Bachelet noted that the actual number of civilians killed or injured “is likely to be higher”. 

“The hospitals are overwhelmed with injured people requiring surgery,” said Dr. Hussein Hassan, Health Emergencies Team leader for the World Health Organization in Libya. “WHO’s emergency medical teams are helping them save lives,” he explained, adding that the “EMTs work into the wee hours to handle complicated surgical cases.” 

“Some specialists, like the vascular surgeon, are travelling from one place to another to cover two hospitals,” he added. In just over a week, WHO’s three medical teams have performed 144 major surgeries and 104 minor surgeries in a little more than a week. 

As conflict intensifies, the UN is lacking funding to carry out critical interventions. Along with other humanitarian partners, it launched a common flash appeal for US$ 10.2 million to assist about 100,000 people specifically affected by the surge in violence around Tripoli.  

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