“From antiquity to the medieval era to the present-day, those who fight for financial reward or other material compensation have been a near constant on the battlefield”, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Council, noting that the shadowy nature of mercenary activities has evolved over the years. 

“Today they are exploiting and feeding off other ills such as transnational organized crime, terrorism and violent extremism”, he told the meeting, which was convened by Equatorial Guinea, which holds the Council’s presidency for the month.

Their activities in Africa require “work across the spectrum”, Mr. Guterres stated, “from prevention to prosecution, and from mitigating the impacts of mercenary activities to addressing the root causes that give rise to them”.

He zeroed-in on mercenary activities in the Sahel, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and emphasized specific actions needed to resist their scourge, including strengthening legal regimes and frameworks. 

Mr. Guterres vowed that the UN Regional Office for Central Africa and the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa would continue to help advance the African Union’s ‘Silencing the guns by 2020’ agenda.

He pointed to the importance of cooperation, such as mixed border commissions, joint border security monitoring mechanisms and intelligence-sharing between national defense forces, highlighting as “vital”, strategic partnership between the UN, African Union (AU), Economic Community of Central Africa States and region countries.

He also said it was critical to create opportunities for youth to reduce “the lure of mercenaries and the threat of radicalization” – underscoring that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can help with this and more.

He concluded with the UN’s promise of continued support in “tackling mercenary activities”. 

African Union Commission Chair calls for bolstered international support to tackle scourge 

Speaking via teleconference from Addis Ababa, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, recalled since the 1960s, the continent’s history has been “punctuated by the of involvement of mercenaries in activities of destabilization, including coups, interventions in armed conflicts and attempts to seize control of natural resources in the countries concerned” – endangering the harmonious development of African States.

While efforts have been made over the years to combat the scourge, mercenaries persist. 

“It is clear that we have to strengthen international instruments as they relate to this phenomenon”, he maintained.

Moreover, Mr. Faki Mahamat said he “could not stress enough” the need for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration in countries emerging from conflict.

He concluded by calling for “increased international support”.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and President of the Security Council for the month of February, chairs the Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

For his part, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the President of Equatorial Guinea, said that after more than 50 years of independence, most African countries have yet to know peace or socioeconomic development, “despite the great economic potential they have in natural resources”.

“Africa remains the least developed continent” he attested, calling mercenaries one of “the potential causes of this delay”.

Mr. Mbasogo spoke of five different attempts in his own country over the last quarter century, with the last attempt thwarted by Angola, Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

The tit-for-tat trade dispute between China and the United States may do little to protect domestic producers in either country and could have “massive” implications on the global economy unless it is resolved, United Nations experts said on Monday.

Of the $250 billion in Chinese exports that are subject to US tariffs, only about six per cent will be picked up by firms in the United States, according to a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

And of the approximately $85 billion in US exports that are subject to China’s tariffs, only about five per cent of this will be taken up by Chinese firms, the UN research shows.

Trade in machinery, chemicals and precision instruments under threat

The study also cautions that the effects “are consistent across different sectors” including machinery, furniture, chemicals and precision instruments, noting that bilateral tariffs “would do little to help protect domestic firms in their respective markets”.

Unless the US and Chinese agree to drop their tariff dispute by 1 March, duty on each country’s products will rise to 25 per cent, up from the current 10 per cent level.

Tariffs ‘a gun that recoils on ourselves’

Quoting former US Secretary of State Cordell Hull, UNCTAD’s Pamela Coke-Hamilton repeated his description of protective tariffs as “a gun that recoils on ourselves”, which had also contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the rise of extremism.

“I think that is a single lesson from what we have had here today,” Ms. Coke Hamilton said. “If – barring an agreement between US China on 1 March – tariffs will escalate to 25 per cent, which is a significant difference from the 10 per cent as it currently exists.”

The implications of such a development would be “massive”, the UNCTAD Director, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, continued, adding that its effects would first of all involve “an economic downturn…due to instability in commodities and financial markets”.

Next, Ms. Coke-Hamilton said, there would be “increased pressure on global growth, as companies will have to impose adjustment costs which will affect productivity investment and profitability”.

Winners and losers from trade tensions

Countries that are expected to benefit the most from the trade war are European Union members; the UN study indicates that exports in the bloc are likely to grow by $70 billion. Japan and Canada, meanwhile, will see exports increase by more than $20 billion each.

Although these figures do not represent a large slice of global trade – which was worth $17 trillion in 2017 – for some countries, like Mexico, the increase in exports will amount to a six per cent rise in exports overall.

Other countries set to benefit from the trade tensions – which erupted in early 2018, when China and the US imposed tariffs worth around $50 billion on each other’s goods – include Australia, with 4.6 per cent export gains, Brazil (3.8) India (3.5), Philippines (3.2) and Viet Nam (5).

East Asian producers face export contraction

But the UNCTAD study also warns that the spat could hit East Asian producers the hardest, with a projected $160 billion contraction in the region’s exports unless discussions between China and the US are resolved before the March deadline.

The study also underlines the “common concern” that trade disputes have an unavoidable impact on the “still fragile” global economy, particularly on developing, commodity-rich countries that are dependent on exports.

“One major concern is the risk that trade tensions could spiral into currency wars, making dollar-denominated debt more difficult to service,” the report adds.

Cervical cancer kills more than 300,000 women every year, with one woman diagnosed every minute, despite the fact that it is one of the most preventable and curable forms of the disease.

In a statement released on Monday to coincide with World Cancer Day, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said that nine out of ten women who die from cervical cancer are from poor countries, and that if no action is taken, deaths from the disease will rise by almost 50 per cent by 2040.

The WHO points out that new diagnoses can be reduced by ensuring that all 9-14 year old girls globally are vaccinated against Human papillomavirus (HPV), a group of viruses that are extremely common worldwide, two types of which cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers.

Women in developing countries have only limited access to preventative measures, and cervical cancer is often not identified until it has reached an advanced stage. Access to treatment of late-stage cervical cancer – such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy – is also very limited, resulting in higher death rates in these countries.

To achieve this aim, WHO says that innovative technologies and strategies, access to diagnosis and early-stage treatment of invasive cancers are needed. In addition, palliative care for women who need it must be ensured.

All of these services must be part of strong health systems aimed at providing universal health coverage, and will require political commitment, greater international cooperation and support for equitable access.

Several countries and UN agencies have already joined forces under the UN Joint Global Programme on Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, a five-year programme to provide global leadership and technical assistance to governments and their partners as they build national cervical cancer control programmes, with the aim of eliminating cervical cancers as a public health concern across the world.

In order to succeed, WHO says that governments, UN agencies, researchers, healthcare professionals and individuals all have a role to play, as do the manufacturers of life-saving vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his gratitude to the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), West Bank, after Israel decided not to renew its mandate.

Noting a joint statement issued by the Foreign Ministers of the TIPH’s contributing countries – Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey – the Secretary-General conveyed his hope on Friday “that an agreement can be found by the parties to preserve the TIPH’s long-standing and valuable contribution to conflict prevention and the protection of Palestinians in Hebron”.

The UN chief said that he is “grateful” to them “and the service of their respective observers over the past 22 years”.

According to news reports, hundreds of Jewish settlers guarded by thousands of soldiers live in the heart of Hebron, which has a population of over 200,000 Palestinians.

The TIPH was established pursuant to the provisions of the 1995 Interim Agreement, known as the Oslo II Accord, between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.  

Mr. Guterres said that he continues to engage with relevant Member States and the parties on the ground “to ensure the protection, safety, and wellbeing of civilians”.

He also reiterated his “commitment to the two-State solution” and to safeguarding the principles and vision enshrined in the Oslo framework, relevant UN resolutions, and other applicable agreements.
 

After 10 days of negotiations, the Central African government and 14 armed groups reached a peace agreement on Saturday, according to a tweet from the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

“Let us mobilize to support the implementation of the peace agreement,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, said on Twitter after the peace agreement was concluded in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

The agreement was made possible under the African Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic (CAR) led by the African Union (AU) and with UN support.

MINUSCA quoted Smail Chergui, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, as stressing the parties’ exemplary cooperation at the Khartoum talks, and saying on Twitter:  “This is a great day for the CAR and for all the people of the Central African Republic” .

The Head of the Central African government’s delegation to the talks, Firmin Ngrebad, said he was determined to work with the Head of State and his government to respond to the concerns “of the brothers who took up arms.”

He also underscored that Central Africans’ support of the agreement will enable “the people of the Central African Republic to embark on the path of reconciliation, concord and development”.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2019, 2.9 million people, more than half of whom are children, will need humanitarian and protection assistance; more than 63 per cent of a population of 4.6 million. 

Concerned with the security, humanitarian, human rights and political crisis within the country and its implications for the region, MINUSCA began operating in 2014 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

With the protection of civilians as its utmost priority, Chapter VII provides for the use of force – meaning, with Security Council authority, peacekeepers may respond to acts of aggression in kind.