15 August 2017 – More than 1,500 Congolese refugees who have fled violence and ethnic tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been relocated from reception centres in northern Angola to a newly established settlement, the United Nations refugee agency today said.

Addressing journalists in Geneva, Adrian Edwards, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the Lóvua settlement was created &#8220to improve the living conditions of refugees.&#8221

Built on about 33 km2 of land allocated by the Government of Angola, the site allows refugees to receive a plot of land to build shelters and to grow food to supplement their food rations.

UNHCR and partners plan to relocate tens of thousands of Congolese refugees to the new site, which is some 100 km inland from the border with the DRC.

&#8220While the security situation in the Kasai region remains volatile, the Angolan authorities and UNHCR with partners are ready to provide protection and assistance for up to 50,000 Congolese refugees by the end of 2017 at Lóvua,&#8221 Mr. Edwards said.

Some 33,000 refugees are currently in reception centres that Mr. Edwards termed &#8220over-crowded.&#8221

The UN agency has called for financial support to assist the refugees. A humanitarian appeal for $65.5 million launched in June is only about 32 per cent funded.

&#8220Additional funding is urgently needed to continue developing infrastructure and services for refugees in Lóvua settlement,&#8221 Mr. Edwards said.

15 August 2017 – Calling on the Kenyan authorities to avoid violence, the United Nations human rights chief today urged the Government to make an immediate announcement that it will cooperate and ensure accountability for reported abuse by security forces which has led to deaths and injures, including among children.

&#8220Kenya is at a critical juncture,&#8221 said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. &#8220The country’s political leaders must do their utmost to calm a volatile political climate. If there are claims to make about the conduct of the elections, they should be made through constitutional and legal means.&#8221

He noted that people have the right to assemble and protest peacefully, and the authorities have a responsibility to ensure they can do so.

&#8220The Government also has a responsibility to ensure that security forces prioritize dialogue, non-violent means and exercise restraint, using proportionate force only when unavoidable,&#8221 the Un High Commissioner said.

He decried the use of violence by protesters, but also stressed that political leaders should send clear messages to their supporters urging peaceful conduct.

&#8220All acts of violence, including the serious allegations of excessive use of force by security forces, must be promptly and independently investigated,&#8221 he added.

As part of that effort, the High Commissioner called on the Government to make an immediate announcement that it will cooperate fully and unequivocally with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority and with subsequent efforts to ensure accountability.

There are media reports that Kenyan security forces used live ammunition against protesters, and stories of alleged police brutality, leading to several deaths and injuries, including children.

Protests erupted after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced on 11 August that Uhuru Kenyatta was the President-elect.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres this weekend stressed the importance of dialogue to diffuse the conflict.

He said the UN, in close collaboration with the African Union and other multilateral and bilateral partners, is fully engaged with Kenya’s political leadership and relevant stakeholders to facilitate the successful conclusion of the electoral process.

14 August 2017 – Twenty million people risk dying of hunger in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and the north-east of Nigeria, including 1.4 million children suffering from severe malnutrition, the United Nations food relief agency said, spotlighting today its worldwide campaign to fight famine.

&#8220Famine is declared when there is evidence of extreme conditions regarding food access, child malnutrition and an increase in the death rate,&#8221 stated the UN World Food Programme (WFP), while launching in Spain a global Fighting Famine campaign in Spain to warn about this unprecedented food crisis.

Commending &#8220the intense response mounted by the humanitarian community,&#8221 WFP said the famine declared in two counties of South Sudan in February had been overcome and, to date, Somalia, Yemen and northeast Nigeria have averted it.

&#8220Nonetheless,&#8221 the agency cautioned, &#8220the situation is still critical.&#8221

WFP pointed out that apart from Yemen, the other three countries are entering the lean season &#8211 the time of year when the previous season’s harvest has run out and food stocks are at their lowest. Also, the rains are making access by land difficult, and even impossible. While air transportation may sometimes be possible, it costs up to seven times more.

The severe food crisis in Yemen is caused by the consequences of armed conflict devastating the country, according to the UN agency.

WFP has implemented emergency response mechanisms that include food airdrops in remote areas in South Sudan and trucking in supplies to areas where people have fled from Boko Haram in Nigeria.

In June, agency assisted 11.8 million people in the four famine-facing countries, underscoring that &#8220almost half of them are in Yemen, where lack of funding has meant that WFP has been forced to make the difficult decision to reduce the amount of food each person in order to stretch resources further.&#8221

To shine a spotlight on the unprecedented food crisis, WFP is taking part in a worldwide #FightingFamine campaign.

The UN agency noted that in Spain, Mastercard and MediaCom have donated resources and advertising space so that the initiative is channeled through press, online media, digital screens and street furniture.

WFP is funded entirely by voluntary contributions, and with this campaign, it urges &#8220the private sector and individuals to take action to help prevent a looming humanitarian disaster.&#8221

As WFP depends on the generosity of donor governments, supporters and partners to quickly deliver food to affected people in these four countries, it urgently needs $900 million to meet immediate needs and avoid the spread of famine for the period of August to January 2018.

14 August 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the terrorist attack carried out yesterday in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

&#8220The Secretary-General stresses that there can be no justification for such acts of indiscriminate violence,&#8221 said his Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, in a statement.

Further to the statement, Mr. Guterres extended his heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Burkina Faso and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.&#8221

Media reports suggest that gunmen killed nearly 20 people and wounded several others during an overnight attack on a restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital.

The Secretary-General reiterated the UN’s support to Burkina Faso in its fight against violent extremism and terrorism.

&#8220He also reaffirms the Organization’s commitment to the countries of the G5 Sahel as they scale up efforts to tackle multiple security challenges in order to promote peace and development in the sub-region,&#8221 concluded the statement, referring to the so-called Group of Five (G5) countries &#8211 Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger &#8211 that have deployed a joint force to tackle the threat of terrorism, as well as the serious challenges posed by transnational organized crime in Africa’s restive Sahel region.

14 August 2017 – More than one in ten people living in rural areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are hungry due to escalating and prolonged conflict and displacement, United Nations agencies today reported, warning that the situation will worsen unless urgent support comes in time.

“7.7 million people face acute hunger&#8211 a 30 percent increase over the last year,&#8221 said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

In a new report, the UN agencies said that between June last year and June this year, the number of people in &#8220emergency&#8221 and &#8220crisis&#8221 levels of food insecurity &#8211 levels that precede &#8220famine&#8221 &#8211 rose by 1.8 million, from 5.9 million to 7.7 million.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released today also notes that the humanitarian situation has worsened due to the spread of fall armyworm infestations, and cholera and measles outbreaks.

In conflict-ridden areas, over 1.5 million people are facing &#8220emergency&#8221 levels of food insecurity according to the IPC report, which means people are forced to sell everything they have and skip or reduce their meals.

&#8220In conflict-ridden areas, farmers have seen their villages and fields pillaged. They have not been able to plant for the last two seasons. There is a lack of local markets providing for their food needs,&#8221 said Alexis Bonte, FAO Representative ad interim in DRC.

&#8220The situation is set to get worse if urgent support does not come in time.&#8221

Farmers, especially those displaced &#8211 the majority of whom are women and children &#8211 are in urgent food aid, as well as in need of tools and seeds so that they can resume farming, the UN agencies said.

In several areas, people only eat once a day. The meal is often based on corn, cassava or potatoes, which does not meet their daily nutritional and calorie needs.

&#8220In some cases, diets are limited to starches and leaves,&#8221 FAO and WFP said.

Chronic malnutrition affects 43 per cent of children under five &#8211 more than 7 million &#8211 in DRC, according to the report.

The situation is particularly difficult in the Kasai region, where growing insecurity has worsened the poverty and food insecurity.

&#8220FAO and WFP call for an urgent increase in the provision of lifesaving food and specialized nutrition assistance to combat malnutrition as well as seeds and tools so that farmers can plant again and regain their livelihoods,&#8221 the UN agencies said.