“My name is Agnes Kenderman. I am 19 years old and I live in New Kru Town, Monteserrado County, with my mother and my son. My community selected me for the training programme.
My mother is in poor health, and my father died a long time ago, during the civil war. I have one older brother. We did not have much growing up, we looked here and there for food to eat, and survived in the community, like everyone else did, through hustling.
One afternoon, I think I was about five years old, and I was helping my brother to fry fish which our mother was later going to sell in the market. I don’t know what happened that day but before I knew it,
I had fallen into the hot oil. I’m lucky that my brother saved me before my face got burnt. I don’t know what would have happened to me.
Surviving domestic violence
Our mother was a market woman selling fish, pepper, and other small things like vegetables if she got them. I was cooking and looking after the home when she was away at the market, and my brother and I did not attend school.
She married another man after our father died. He was not kind to us at all and he drunk plenty of alcohol. I can remember how he used to beat our mother many times.
It was painful and I was always quiet and feared him, but my brother would try and stop him from beating our mother, and he would turn and hit my brother badly. Whenever he or anyone tried to harass me, my brother protected me.
After about five years he decided to leave us alone. Then our mother became very sick and she could not support the family, life was hard.
Now, my brother is married with his own wife and children. He had to move out on his own. And now I am the only one looking after our mother here, and also my son.
Helen Mayelle/Spotlight Initiative Liberia
Agnes-Josephine Kenderman and her son stand infront of her house in Liberia.
Cooking up a brighter future
My life has improved since I was selected to take part in this programme. I am much happier, and I get respect from the community.
I learned catering – which involves cooking, making bread, short bread, cookies, pastries and different things. I trained for three months. After the training, they gave us flour, oil, butter, sugar, milk, yeast, flavour, measuring cups, baking powder and milk. These items lasted for one month.
We had to get up very early in the morning to go to the training centre. But when I thought about what the training will make me become tomorrow, the benefits for me and my family, I just quickly got out of bed and ran!
In the future I want to keep learning. I am really interested in making cakes and icing for cakes for weddings and birthdays, and also want to cook special fried rice and salads.
People like to eat and if you make something sweet and tasty, they will come again and again. During Christmas and New Year I made so much money from sales!
This training empowered me to be independent. I can now support my family with money and other expenses”.
More than 286,000 people have been driven from their homes in the region after crops failed and animals died due to the drought and over 1100 schools are either fully or partially closed, leaving young girls especially vulnerable to sexual and physical violence and coercion, child labour and early marriage.
Women, children and survivors of gender-based violence have reduced access to a range of services including medical and reproductive care, support for newborns and their mothers as well as protection services.
Read more here about how UNFPA is providing emergency services to those most in need in the drought-stricken region.
The UNFPA 2022 Humanitarian Response Appeal for Ethiopia is calling for nearly $24 million to strengthen the health system and build back the capacities of maternal and reproductive services in eight crisis-affected regions. To date, just over half of the appeal has been funded.
The blue helmets were killed, and another injured, when their Armoured Personnel Carrier hit an improvised explosive device outside the town of Douentza, located in the Mopti region in central Mali.
In what is yet again another cowardly attack against our peacekeepers, 2 brave Blue helmets from Egypt lost their lives today while #ServingForPeace with @UN_MINUSMA. These crimes are a blatant violation of international humanitarian law & shall not go unpunished. @EgyptPRNewYork
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, said the incident also marked the sixth time a Mission convoy has been hit since 22 May.
A ‘very hard week’
“The Secretary-General condemns this new attack on our peacekeepers, who, as you know, are just fulfilling the mandate in Mali given to them by the Security Council in extremely challenging conditions,” he told journalists in New York.
The UN chief also wished a prompt recovery to the injured peacekeepers.
El-Ghassim Wane, head of MINUSMA, took to Twitter to condemn “this new attack by extremist elements.”
On Wednesday, a MINUSMA logistics convoy in Kidal, northern Mali, came under direct fire from suspected members of a terrorist group for roughly an hour.
Four peacekeepers from Jordan were injured, one of whom died from his wounds after being evacuated.
The head of UN Peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, also tweeted his condemnation for what he called “yet again another cowardly attack against our peacekeepers”.
Mr. Lacroix said “these crimes are a blatant violation of international law,” adding that they “shall not go unpunished.”
Commitment to serve
Mali continues to be among the most dangerous places to serve as a peacekeeper.
MINUSMA – the French acronym for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali – was established in April 2013 in the wake of a military coup and the occupation of the north by radical Islamists.
The Mission supports political processes and carries out numerous tasks related to security and protection of civilians.
Despite the challenging circumstances, MINUSMA personnel continue their mandated work, the UN Spokesperson said.
Mr. Dujarric reported that the Mission recently helped to rehabilitate two bridges in the Mopti region which had been destroyed in earlier attacks.
The development will bring relief to the population, and will also facilitate the resumption of travel, commerce and other economic activity, including between Mopti city and the town of Bandiagara, some 65 kilometres to the southeast.
Meanwhile, peacekeepers have assisted people in two towns in the Kidal and Gao regions, as part of their ongoing support to communities in northern Mali.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 02 (IPS) – The following article is part of a series to commemorate World Environment Day June 5
The writer is Program Associate, Sustainable Energy Futures Program, Society for International Development (SID)A global transition to lower-carbon energy sources is crucial for our species’ survival given the worsening effects of climate change. With many people increasingly advocating for a rapid shift from an energy system dependent on fossil fuels, questions on how to make this transition arise – one that is just and equitable, especially in the developing world.
There are many questions that need to be answered. How do we make realistic and enforceable policies that support energy transition in an equitable way? What changes do we need to make to existing infrastructure and in storage technologies?
How can we increase funding and investments to develop clean and effective energy sources inclusive of clean cooking technologies? How do we ensure employment, prosperity and other opportunities are maintained and increased during this transition?
According to CDP Africa report (2020), Africa accounts for the smallest share of greenhouse gas emissions at 3.8% of the total global emissions but experiences harsh climate change effects. Even with continued growth in industrialization and development activities in Africa, emissions remain low.
The energy sector is a major contributor to growth and development of a country but also accounts for high emissions with burning of fossil fuels needed for building roads, cold storage facilities and transport in and out of the cities.
There is need to focus on where we can reduce emissions and start on climate mitigation while providing reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy.
Transport Sector
Two-thirds of the global greenhouse gases emitted today are linked to the use of fossil fuels in the generation of energy for lighting, transport, and in industry. The transport system in Africa is highly dependent on fossil fuels, recent price increases of which have had a knock-on effect on food prices and more generally, impacted negatively on living standards for many in poverty-stricken areas.
Furthermore, the transport system contributes largely to outdoor pollution, especially in the East Africa which has seen in recent years, an increase in the road infrastructure and the acquisition of motor vehicles (most of which are imported ‘reconditioned’ from Europe and the Far East, and whose tail-pipe emissions would not be considered acceptable in those countries).
African countries are consolidating mitigation approaches to reduce the effects of fossil fuels from the transport sector. This includes a shift from fossil fuel-powered transport, an example of that being Kenya launching electric shuttle buses in the public transport system this year (CitiHoppa and East Shuttle) and motorcycles (Ecobodaa).
While these shifts are appreciable, they still have a long way to go in terms of replacing traditional vehicles, as the costs remain prohibitive for most, and the support infrastructure needed for electric vehicles is still largely absent.
Clean cooking
In Africa more than half the population has no access to clean and reliable energy sources which results in the use of biomass (charcoal and firewood) for their heating and cooking needs, in turn contributing to environmental and health complications.
Clean cooking is an integral aspect not to be left behind in this transition. According to latest SDG7 (IEA) tracking report, 2.5 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean cooking facilities and rely on kerosene, coal and solid biomass for cooking.
This number has increased with population growth and challenges levied by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to governments shifting priorities, and increase in poverty with loss of employment opportunities making basic energy services unaffordable.
The use of biomass not only increases pollution, and affects the total forest cover globally, but also poses serious health risks to users, particularly women and children who are the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Encouraging clean cooking innovations seeks to provide alternative technologies that are sustainable, efficient, reliable, and affordable to these communities. Incentives towards adoption and use of liquified petroleum gas can greatly reduce illness, deaths, and indoor air pollution.
Awareness creation and training initiatives by both governments and civil society groups have yielded some results with more households adopting clean cooking technologies. This has been further made possible through government incentives and policies that create a conducive environment for the production and/or importation of these technologies as well as facilitating access to them.
Government Policies
Government policy is a key component in addressing energy-related issues and ensuring that a just transition can be achieved. In particular, governments have a crucial responsibility in ensuring that innovations and technologies are developed and delivered. Well thought out strategies and policies are required for this transition to work.
The policy development process should be participatory and inclusive of all stakeholders to ensure equal and adequate representation of interests, ideas, and issues in the transition plans. This means governments working together with local communities, businesses, the labor market, and development partners to identify areas for improving and developing clean effective sources of energy and clean cooking technologies and develop policies to encourage innovation, investments, and new markets.
Strategies to support incentives for technology transfer and development and reduced taxation are also a requirement to accelerate this shift.
During this year’s SE4All forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, conversations around a just and equitable transition were held with ministries and high-level delegates of several African countries agreeing on seven transformative action points of implementation.
Governments committing and actioning these seven transformative actions would ensure that Africa is on a path towards economic prosperity and achieving a net zero future. These action points look to making modern sustainable energy available, pursue a modern energy of up to 6000kWh per capita in Africa which prioritizes clean cooking, scale up private and public sector investment in new energy technologies, infrastructures, and distribution systems.
They also point out support to Africa in deployment of gas as a transition fuel and green hydrogen for industrial development with the sustainability aspect checked, prioritizing local job creation in the energy sector for local economies, lifting development finance restrictions limiting project in Africa to ramp up domestic resource mobilization and make changes towards technology transfer mechanisms to ensure Africa has access to latest energy innovations.
These transformative actions offer opportunities to engage local communities and better meet the needs of the disadvantaged and those that lack modern energy services.
Renewable energy
Energy generation from renewable sources is one of the ways we can achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Replacing conventional forms of energy generation with new energy sources has boosted the sector and energy decarbonization, thus, ensuring reduced carbon emissions and costs while providing reliable, affordable, and sustainable power.
Technology innovation and investments in new technologies must be put to work to respond effectively to arising challenges in consumption and power generation. Adopting new technologies will ensure that power generation is more efficient and that the power grid is more secure and resilient to support and supply consumer needs.
With a huge population in Africa living in rural areas coupled with poor infrastructure development, there is need to accelerate the green mini grids and off grid plans in the sector for enhanced and reliable energy access.
Green mini grids are flexible, and their designs can be altered to fit specific sites and are deployed in closer proximity to the user hence more reliable and accessible.
Renewable energy technologies and green mini grid systems must be included in energy policies and plans to address the barriers that hinder the adoption of these new, more reliable, efficient, and sustainable technologies worked out.
Governments should put in place and support policies that promote technological advancement in renewable energy generation and distribution while facilitating financing and investment opportunities in the sector.
Energy planning should leverage existing data to develop demand-based plans to ensure energy needs are met. Decision-making in the energy sector must be data-driven to ensure useful information is captured and analyzed to reflect and support the advancement of and forecast predictive maintenance.
Today 759 million people live without electricity, with many millions living with unreliable and insufficient access. Though significant progress has been made, gaps in this sector are daunting, and more needs to be done.
To accelerate progress, Africa requires support through stronger government commitments in terms of adequate policy and incentives and long-term energy demand planning. This will spur fast uptake of sustainable energy solutions while supporting innovations and investments in technology development.
For roughly an hour, the convoy came under direct fire from suspected members of a terrorist group using small arms and rocket launchers.
Four Jordanian peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, were injured in the attack, one of whom died from his injuries after being evacuated.
Under constant threat
The Mission reported that the attack was the fifth incident to occur in the Kidal region in just one week, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.
“It is a tragic reminder of the complexity of the mandate of the UN Mission and of its peacekeepers, and the threats peacekeepers face on a daily basis,” he said.
While a formal UN statement is forthcoming, Mr. Dujarric said the Secretary-General has denounced the attack.
Condolences and commitment
The UN chief has sent his deepest condolences to the family of the deceased peacekeeper, and to the people and Government of Jordan. He has also wished a prompt recovery to those injured.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Mali, El Ghassim Wane, underlined that despite the difficulties, MINUSMA remains determined to support the people and Government of Mali in their quest for peace and security.
“I strongly condemn this attack, which is part of the desperate efforts of terrorist groups to hamper the quest for peace in Mali and the implementation of MINUSMA’s mandate,” he said in a statement, translated from French.
Rights violations increase
MINUSMA this week published its quarterly human rights report which showed that 812 cases of violations and abuses were recorded in the first three months of the year.
The figure represents a 150 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter.
The Malian Armed Forces have stepped up military operations to combat terrorism, with occasional support from foreign military elements.
Some of these operations have resulted in serious allegations of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, according to the report.
Overall, some 320 violations were attributed to the Malian defense and security forces, compared to 31 in the last quarter of 2021.
Relief chief’s visit
Meanwhile, UN relief chief, Martin Griffiths, was in Mali this week to draw attention to the deteriorating humanitarian situation there and the need for greater support.
People are reeling from the impact of years of conflict, deep poverty, climate shocks and mounting insecurity.
Currently, 5.7 million require humanitarian assistance, and 4.8 million do not have access to sufficient food.
Furthermore, it is estimated that a staggering 1.8 million people will be acutely food insecure during the lean season from June to August of this year.
Resilience amid difficulties
During his four-day visit, Mr. Griffiths met with the transitional Government in the capital, Bamako.
He also travelled to Mopti, in the centre of the country – one of the regions where Islamist rebels have been operating for years following a failed coup – and met with internally displaced persons in Socoura village.
“Incredibly resilient women shared with me the difficulties they face,” he said. “Some had lost their husbands to violence and had to flee their homes at great risk. With the help of local communities, authorities and humanitarian partners, some are now able to get back on their feet, for example by running small businesses.”
The UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported that the crisis in the Central Sahel is rapidly deteriorating, with over 13 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger needing assistance.
Mr. Griffiths concluded his mission to Mali on Tuesday, marking his first visit to the region since being appointed a year ago.
While he left concerned about the impacts the crisis will have on millions, he stressed there is also “hope for turning this around, for building on the huge potential of youth, the traditional way of mediating conflicts through dialogue and bringing peace to Malians across the country.”
BONN, Germany, Jun 01 (IPS) – The following article is part of a series to commemorate World Environment Day June 5
The writer is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)Land is our lifeline on this planet. Yet ‘business as usual’ in how we manage land resources puts our own future on planet Earth in jeopardy, with half of humanity already facing the impacts of land degradation.
As we mark the 50th World Environment Day, let us accelerate efforts to meet global pledges to restore by 2030 one billion degraded hectares — an area the size of the USA or China — to stem the loss of life and livelihoods and secure future prosperity for all.
We need to move fast—and together—to realize these commitments through tangible action and effective investments. In doing so, we may find that the answer to some of humanity’s biggest challenges is right beneath our feet.
It was against the backdrop of multiple global challenges, including the worst-in-40-years drought in Eastern Africa, as well as food and economic crises fuelled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts, that 196 nations came together in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from 9-20 May for the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
At the 9 May Summit convened by Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara, leaders adopted the Abidjan Call, which reinforces the commitment towards achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030. Simply put, this means ending land loss by avoiding, reducing and reversing the damage we do to our forests, peatlands, savannahs and other ecosystems.
The leaders’ call to action comes in response to a stark warning by the UNCCD’s flagship Global Land Outlook report that up to 40% of all ice-free land is already degraded, with dire consequences for climate, biodiversity and livelihoods. Business as usual will, by 2050, result in degradation of 16 million square kilometres (almost the size of South America), with 69 gigatonnes of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
But it is not all doom and gloom. The report underscores that investing in large-scale land restoration is a powerful, cost-effective and viable pathway to restore our communities, economies, health and much more.
Restoring one billion hectares of degraded lands will add 50% to the global GDP, help tackle climate and biodiversity crises, boost water and food security, and chart a new path to post-pandemic recovery. It would also attenuate seemingly unrelated crises such as forced migration: land restoration would help reduce the estimated 700 million people at risk of being displaced by drought by 2030.
At the conclusion of two-week negotiations in Abidjan, countries sent a united call about the importance of healthy and productive land for securing future prosperity for all and for boosting drought resilience the world longs for.
Exacerbated by land degradation and climate change, droughts are increasing in frequency and severity, and may affect an estimated three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050, according to the Drought in Numbers 2022 report from UNCCD. Recognizing drought as a serious threat to humanity, UNCCD parties agreed to step up collaboration to explore new policies at the regional and global levels, working together towards COP16 in Saudi Arabia.
With 38 decisions taken at COP15, the Convention will be able to anticipate and act on the changes to the land that may unfold in the years to come. As one concrete example of COP15 decisions, a global database will be developed to help countries to map the exact location of the one billion hectares earmarked for restoration, and to track progress of their restoration in a systematic manner.
This will help the international community to check action against the targets at the national level. More importantly, it will help countries to make well-informed decisions.
Future-proofing land management will also help boost agricultural productivity, avoid supply chain disruptions, and withstand future environmental shocks. The US$ 2.5 billion Abidjan Legacy Programme launched by President Ouattara in Abidjan is one example of investing in long-term environmental sustainability across major value chains in Côte d’Ivoire while protecting and restoring forests and lands and improving communities’ resilience to climate change.
At this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, which came hot on the heels of UNCCD COP15, I argued for greater involvement of food and land-use sectors, which represent about 12% of global GDP and up to 40% of employment, in land restoration and drought resilience efforts.
Stronger governance for better land management
The Abidjan COP15 was transformational in many ways, not least of them a growing recognition of the essential role of good governance for effective land restoration and drought resilience.
COP15 agreed on policy actions to enable land restoration through stronger tenure rights, gender equality, land use planning and youth engagement to draw private sector investment in conservation, farming and land use practices that improve the health of the land.
Take gender equality, for instance. Although women make up nearly half of all agricultural workforce, they only hold 18% of the associated land titles in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, women are twice more affected by desertification, land degradation and drought compared to men, according to a new UNCCD study released at the Gender Caucus at COP15.
Yet, when empowered, women can be at the forefront of global land restoration efforts, as examples from around the world—from Nepal to Jordan to Paraguay—demonstrate. Decisions taken at COP15 seek to promote women’s involvement in land management and restoration efforts by strengthening their rights and facilitating access to finance.
UNCCD is a trailblazer among international environmental treaties in acknowledging that we cannot reverse land degradation without secure land tenure. People with secure tenure know that when they invest in the land, they will reap the benefits; they are more motivated to protect the long-term health and productivity of their land.
Secure tenure is not only important to small-scale farmers, indigenous peoples and local communities—it is just as important to those making large-scale investments in land degradation neutrality and restoration. Otherwise, it can become a source of tension or conflict over natural resources. At COP15, countries agreed to build on existing guidance on land tenure to ensure the inclusive and meaningful participation of all actors in efforts to combat land degradation.
Youth makes up most of the population in countries affected by desertification, land degradation and drought. And in many of these countries, land-based sectors are the mainstay of the economies. That’s why the Youth Forum at COP15 focused on supporting land-based youth entrepreneurship, securing decent land-based jobs, and strengthening youth participation in the Convention. Beyond better land stewardship, it could go also go a long way towards reducing social unrest resulting from high youth unemployment rates.
Addressing climate, biodiversity and land crises together
Climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation pose existential threats to nature and humanity. The linkages between them have been clearly established. Our actions to address them must also be interlinked and coordinated as there is no pathway to achieving our goals on climate, biodiversity or land without tackling them together.
UNCCD is one of the three global treaties that emerged from the Rio Earth Summit 30 years ago, along with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
As the international community gathers in Stockholm this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the three Rio Conventions issue a joint call to make this decade one of urgent action, restoration and transformation, uniting the land, biodiversity and climate agendas for the survival of people and the planet.
This World Environment Day with its theme “Only One Earth”, let us have the same sense of urgency and solidarity that guided our predecessors at the historical Stockholm 1972 conference. Fifty years on, this truth still holds — this planet is our only home.
Major global crypto exchange Binance is launching the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Awareness Tour (BCAT) in Africa, a crypto awareness tour within a set location as crypto adoption continues to become a popular trend in the continent. The goal of the tour is to spread blockchain and cryptocurrency awareness as well as educate people across Africa. Besides, it is expected to facilitate the driving of real-world adoption, empowering millions of people across the continent to take to crypto in the process.
The campaign will start on June 4 from South Eastern, Nigeria. Then, it will move across Africa to countries such as Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon, etc. According to Binance’s post, the event will host as many as 5000 Africans.
Binance has been a sponsor of the Blockchain and Crypto Awareness Tour since 2019 when the program was first introduced. It was backed by CryptoTVPlus, a popular blockchain and cryptocurrency media house from Nigeria. At that time, the program was mainly targeting students. Students as a whole would be better positioned on how to make lasting impacts on their societies with the myriad opportunities the blockchain technology affords its enthusiasts.
In 2020, the BCAT took place online because of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Binance claims the educative tours have reached over 60,000 people. Among other sponsors this year, major entrants include a global decentralised finance (DeFi) platform Xend Finance, decentralised esports and betting platform Sportrex, crypto wallet service Lead Wallet, and crypto payments provider BoundlessPay.
However, the edition of this year’s tour would lean heavily towards the popular play-to-earn economies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the metaverse. Although Africa is still far behind when it comes to crypto being a contributor to the economy, users have been able to use the assets as a close substitute for the failed payments systems across the region.
In a survey published in late 2021 by Chainalysis, the major drivers of adoption across Africa have been peer-to-peer payments and savings among others. Like in major developing countries, Nigerians are looking at crypto as a means to escape several policies announced by the government and inflation. The awareness tour will also seek to establish a mutual space where crypto discussions will be carried out.
“It is imperative that this Council lend its full weight to ongoing regional efforts to defuse the situation and bring an end to the M23 insurgency, once and for all,” said Martha Pobee, an Assistant Secretary-General for the UN’s political affairs and peace operations, covering Africa.
Call to disarm
Civilians are paying a heavy price in the violence, she said, citing information from the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. Some 75,000 people were displaced in fighting last week in North Kivu province, while another 11,577 have crossed the border into Uganda.
Two peacekeepers with the UN’s Mission in the country, MONUSCO, suffered minor injuries in the hostilities, while at least 16 Congolese soldiers were killed and 22 wounded.
The UN and key regional and international partners have unanimously called for the M23 to lay down their weapons and join the process for disarming and demobilizing combatants.
Ms. Pobee told ambassadors she was encouraged that the DRC and Rwanda have decided to refer to a verification mechanism under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), known as the EJVM, to investigate reports of human and material damage caused by explosive ordinance originating from across their respective borders on 23 May.
Dialogue indispensable
The head of the African Union has also called the leaders of two countries to press for calm and a peaceful resolution of any disagreements.
“Indeed, every effort should be made to ensure the parties make full use of existing mechanisms, such as the EJVM, which play an essential role in maintaining the climate of trust and cooperation that remains essential to effectively tackle the common security challenges facing the DRC and its neighbors,” Ms. Pobee told ambassadors.
“Continued dialogue between the concerned governments remains indispensable to avoid a further escalation of violence in eastern DRC.”
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Prevent another crisis
The UN’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Huang Xia, addressed the Council by videoconference.
Speaking in French, he said the situation today was reminiscent of the M23’s operations nearly a decade ago, when the group seized the city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province.
He urged ambassadors to do everything to avert escalation and another crisis which would have immeasurable humanitarian and political consequences for the region.
Mr. Huang said eradication of armed groups in the eastern DRC requires a comprehensive approach, particularly in the context of the M23 resurgence and persistent insecurity.
However, he was convinced the “military option” alone will not be enough, underlining his Office’s ongoing efforts towards engagement.
He also stressed the importance of continued high-level dialogue among regional leaders, and emphasized the need to continue mobilization of bilateral and regional mechanisms, including the ICGLR and the Nairobi Conclave political process.
The UN envoy is embarking on a mission to all concerned countries in the region starting tomorrow, delivering a message that is threefold and simple.
“My message to the countries in the region is as follows,” he said. “The region doesn’t need a new crisis; let’s keep the channels of dialogue open at all levels, including at the community level; and help preserve the progress achieved in the recent years thanks to the various cooperation mechanisms.”
Food insecurity is soaring in the country, driven by the combined impacts of armed conflict, drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, low production of key staple crops due to infestation by pests and diseases, and economic turmoil.
.@UNCERF‘s largest allocation of funds to @FAO comes at a critical time.
Thanks to this generous contribution, we will provide agricultural assistance to vulnerable farming and pastoral households affected by multiple shocks in the Sudan.#InvestInHumanitypic.twitter.com/yUrQmyFeUS
— FAO in Emergencies (@FAOemergencies) May 18, 2022
The “cascading effects” of the conflict in Ukraine could also worsen the situation.
Meeting the needs
FAOhas welcomed a $12 million contribution from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for a new project to provide emergency agriculture and livestock supplies to thousands of farming and pastoral communities in 14 of the most severely affected counties.
“This generous contribution from CERF means that FAO can urgently provide essential agricultural inputs to vulnerable farming households before the main agriculture season starts in June. It will ensure that they can produce enough food to meet their needs for the months to come,” said Babagana Ahmadu, FAO Representative to the Sudan.
The project will target 180,000 households, or 900,000 people, among the most vulnerable farming and pastoralist communities, including internally displaced people, returnees, and refugees.
Reducing dependence on aid
As twothirds of Sudan’s population lives in rural areas, FAO said providing smallholder farmers with agricultural support is essential to the humanitarian response.
The project covers both agricultural and livestock assistance, which aims at rapidly reducing dependence on emergency food assistance and provides a basis for medium and longer-term recovery.
Assistance covers the provision of crop, legume and vegetable seeds, donkey ploughs and hand tools, veterinary vaccines and drugs, animal feed, as well as donkey carts and productive livestock.
It also includes provision of cash and the rehabilitation of community assets such as small-scale water infrastructure, pasture and hafirs, or artificial ponds for harvesting rainwater.
Ukraine war impact
FAO said the situation looks grim for millions in Sudan. The war in Ukraine is causing further spikes in food prices, and the country is dependent on wheat imports from the Black Sea region.
Interruption in grain supplies to Sudan will make it more difficult and expensive to import wheat, with current local prices per tonne, costing 180 per cent more when compared with the same period last year.
Additionally, high prices for fertilizers on global markets will also affect imports, and, ultimately, agricultural production.
While the CERF allocation is timely and vital, FAO added that another $35 million is urgently needed to ensure adequate support for two million vulnerable farming and pastoral households in Sudan.
Climate shocks and extreme weather are fuelling mass displacement and driving up humanitarian needs across the Horn of Africa.
Starvation threat in East Africa
Meanwhile, UN agencies and their partners are calling for a rapid scale up in action to address the looming threat of starvation in East Africa following four failed rainy seasons.
The drought, which is affecting Somalia, as well as parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, is likely the worst in 40 years, and the situation is set to worsen.
The warning came in a statement issued on Monday by FAO on behalf of the 14 partners, who include meteorological agencies and humanitarian organizations.
Some 16.7 million people in the region currently face high acute food insecurity and figures are projected to increase to 20 million by September, they said, citing data from a regional platform co-chaired by FAO.
“The climate conditions that cause the current drought are expected to prevail until the end of this year, posing a serious threat to the October-December 2022 season,” said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Devastation and displacement
The rainy season from March to May of this year, which appears likely to be the driest on record, has devastated livelihoods and driven sharp increases in food, water, and nutrition insecurity.
Over a million people have been displaced in Somalia and southern Ethiopia alone, while an estimated 3.6 million livestock have died in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Furthermore, it is estimated that in the worst-affected areas of Somalia, one out of three livestock have perished since mid-2021.
The partners said the latest long-lead seasonal forecasts indicate that there is now a concrete risk that the October to December rainy season could also fail.
“Should these forecasts materialize, the already severe humanitarian emergency in the region would further deepen,” they said.
Workers pictured at a home in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi rural district, where 44-year-old Davison Chihambakwe, based in neighbouring South Africa, has helped upgrade and modernise some of the houses belonging to his family. He uses the money he sends after fleeing this country’s economic hardships 15 years ago. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
by Jeffrey Moyo (harare)
Inter Press Service
Harare, May 31 (IPS) – Two decades ago, Trynos Mahamba left Zimbabwe for the United Kingdom, but back home, he has changed the lives of his relatives.
Since the day after he left, Mahamba (53) has been sending money home while Zimbabwe’s economy faltered amidst violent land seizures from commercial white farmers during Zimbabwe’s land reform programme.
In neighbouring South Africa, 44-year-old Davison Chihambakwe, who left this country in 2007, claims he has built a giant construction empire, and, with it, he said, has also made a difference back home.
Even in neighbouring Botswana, 39-year-old Langton Mawere, who left Zimbabwe in 2008 at the height of its economic crisis, has ‘made it’ back home. He has set up a property business by sending money for developments managed by others on his behalf.
Speaking from the United Kingdom, Mahamba says he sends money to his aged parents living in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. The money reaches them through WorldRemit – a money transfer company.
“I have made sure that without failure, I send about 2000 Pounds (sterling) to my ailing parents who are now in their eighties because they need monthly medical check-ups and food as well,” Mahamba told IPS.
From South Africa, Chihambakwe says his family also benefits.
“None of my close relatives or family members are suffering back home because I make sure I send them money to meet their daily needs.”
He sends the money through another international money transfer company Western Union, to his relatives like 32-year-old Denis Sundire, based in Harare.
Sundire says that his SA-based cousin has supported him since college.
“Davison (Chihambakwe) supported me since my college days, and even to this day, as I struggle to get a job, he still sends me money for my upkeep. That’s why he is becoming more and more successful. He is so kind,” Sundire told IPS.
Zimbabwe battles 90 percent unemployment, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), although the government has downplayed that to 11 percent, claiming people are working in the informal sector.
Mahamba, Chihambakwe and Mawere all said they fled this Southern African country searching for greener pastures as economic hardships visited this country.
As a result, hundreds of Zimbabwean economic migrants who fled this country have over the years become the panacea to the African nation’s worsening financial woes.
Zimbabwe’s economic migrants like Mahamba, Chihambakwe and Mawere are breathing life into the country’s faltering economy through the remittances they send back home.
Chihambakwe boasts of modernising his rural village in Masvingo province in the Mwenezi district. He claimed he has helped some of his poor villagers build modern houses, doing away with the thatched huts.
For many like Chihambakwe, helping his village and loved ones from his South African base has also increased diaspora remittances into Zimbabwe’s economy.
According to the Ministry of Finance, remittances from outside the country were said to have reached US$1,4 billion in 2021, up from US$1 billion a year before.
Yet even as Zimbabwe’s economic migrants in countries like South Africa make strides, they frequently face xenophobic sentiments and, at times, attacks.
Many South Africans heap blame on migrant Zimbabweans for seizing local jobs and rising crime.
In South Africa, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) results for the fourth quarter of last year showed the official unemployment rate reaching over 35 percent, the highest rate since 2008, when the QLFS began.
Recently, a video of South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi launching a scathing attack on illegal foreign nationals went viral.
He (Motsoaledi) made the remarks on foreign nationals at an ANC regional conference in the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
Referring to migrants that he said have flooded South Africa, Motsoaledi said, “something is going wrong in our continent, and SA is on the receiving end.
“When people do wrong things in their countries, they run here.”
“We are the only country that accepts rascals. Even the UN is angry with us that SA has a tendency, because of something called democracy, to accept all the rascals of the world,” the South African Minister was quoted saying.
As Zimbabwean migrants breathe life into their country’s struggling economy via remittances, with xenophobia climbing to new heights in South Africa, a gardener, 43-year-old Elvis Nyathi from Zimbabwe, was this year stoned by a mob in the neighbouring country before being burnt to death ostensibly for being a foreigner.
Recently writing in the Mail & Guardian, South Africa’s Fredson Guilengue working for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) regional office in Johannesburg, said “the issue of xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals has once again reached disturbing levels in South Africa.
The tensions are also exacerbated by an anti-migrant campaign dubbed Operation Dudula, headed by 36-year-old Nhlanhla ‘Lux’ Dlamini.
Dlamini was arrested and now faces housebreaking, theft, and malicious damage to property charges after Dudula members descended on a suspected “drug house” in Soweto in March.
However, even within the ruling ANC, there have been mixed messages about the operation, with some indicating support, although SA President Cyril Ramaphosa distanced his government from the Dudula machinations.
“The concerns that we have is that we have got a vigilante force-like organisation taking illegal actions against people who they are targeting, and these things often get out of hand, they always mutate into wanton violence against other people”, Ramaphosa said.
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