6 March 2017 – The United Nations political affairs chief today stressed that West Africa could be a model of how the UN can work with local partners in bringing stability to regions or sub-regions.

“The situation in West Africa says a lot of the region’s growing capacity to deal with regional problems,” said Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman at a regular briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York, following a one-week visit to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Guinea, The Gambia and Senegal.

The key objective of his visit was to advance sustaining peace initiatives in Burkina Faso and the Gambia – two countries that are in political transition. He also said that the situation in Guinea-Bissau, which he did not visit this time, was also a major topic of discussion during his trip.

The transition in the Gambia is “a very clear case of prevention,” in which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the UN were “all united behind the will of Gambian people.”

In January, the former President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, decided to facilitate an immediate and orderly transition process and transfer of power to President Adama Barrow after concerted mediation efforts by a number of African leaders to help resolve the crisis in the country following the presidential elections in December.

The situation is still fragile, however. With the legislative polls to be held on 6 April, the cohesion of the seven-party ruling coalition will be tested, he said.

On Burkina Faso, Mr. Feltman highlighted some progress made since the new leader was inaugurated in December 2015, including the country’s improved relationships with its neighbours, in particular with Côte d’Ivoire.

He said he discussed with President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and other officials the implementation of key reforms that will help consolidate stability in the country, including in the economic and security spheres.

Mr. Feltman said Burkina Faso was successful in rallying international support for its 2016-2020 national plan for economic and social development, with donors pledging 28.6 billion euros at a conference in December.

Mr. Feltman highlighted the contributions of ECOWAS and the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) to these countries’ transitions.

“Working with local actors and subregional organizations can make the UN more effective in prevention,” he said, underscoring the need to build on the leverage and credibility that local partners have inside countries.

For instance, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who chairs ECOWAS, can talks to fellow Heads of States in West Africa as a peer and as someone who with real leverage and credibility on the ground, he noted.

6 March 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the reported firing of ballistic missiles today by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), three of which landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

“Such actions violate Security Council resolutions and seriously undermine regional peace and stability,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his call for the DPRK leadership to refrain from further provocations and return to full compliance with its international obligations,” concluded the statement.

This is the latest in a series of reported missile launches by the DPRK, all of which have been condemned by the United Nations.

After urgent closed-door talks last month, the Security Council, condemning a reported incident on 12 February, issued a press statement expressing serious concern that the DPRK conducted these ballistic missile launches after the 15 April, 23 April, 27 April, 28 April, 31 May, 21 June, 9 July, 18 July, 2 August, 23 August, 5 September, and 14 October 2016 launches, as well as the nuclear test of 9 September, “in flagrant disregard of its repeated statements.”

6 March 2017 – The United Nations aviation body today adopted new aircraft emissions to curb the impact of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate.

The Standard will apply to new aircraft type designs from 2020, and to aircraft type designs already in-production as of 2023, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The President of the ICAO Council, Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, called the decision “pioneering.”

“Air transport [is] the first industry sector globally to adopt a CO₂ emissions design certification standard,” Mr. Aliu said.

The decision by the 36-member States of the ICAO Council follows a move last October curb carbon emissions from passenger and cargo airplanes as of 2020 through a carbon offset mechanism, which is voluntary until 2027.

The ICAO Secretary General, Fang Liu, said the accomplishment is “historic” and places aviation in “an even better position as we look forward to a greener era of air transport development.”

6 March 2017 – As a severe drought deepens in Somalia, the risk of famine is looming in the long-troubled country, with about half the population in need of some form of assistance, according to an assessment by United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners.

The situation has become “significantly worse in the last six months,” explained Joseph Contreras, the spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

“Currently, approximately 6.2 million Somalis are in need of humanitarian assistance, of that number, three million are in need or urgent life saving measures. This is a significant step up from the 1.1 million Somalis that were in such circumstances, such need for life saving measures in September,” he said.

In addition, the UN reports that nearly 950,000 children under the age of five will be acutely malnourished this year, with 185,000 of that number at risk of death without immediate medical treatment.

Citing ‘worrying similarities’ to the 2011 famine in Somalia, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) this past Friday launched a $24.6 million appeal the more than one million Somalis most affected by the drought.

“We named this (2017) drought ‘Odi Kawayn,’ which is Somali for ‘something bigger than the elders,’” drought victim Halima told the agency, explaining that none of the elders has ever seen a drought as severe as this one.

A massive increase in aid is urgently needed to avert a famine. IOM reports that wages are collapsing, local food prices are rising, animal deaths are increasing, and malnutrition rates are starting to rise. Moreover, water prices are spiralling and Somalis are moving in growing numbers in search of food and water. Without assistance, many people face malnutrition, significantly increased risk of disease, loss of livelihoods and even death.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien (right), is joined by Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq (left), and head of the UN Mission in Somalia Michael Keating on arrival in Mogadishu, Somalia, where five and a half million people need urgent assistance over the next six months. Photo: OCHA

Meanwhile today, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, visited the Zone K Internal Displacement Camp (IDP) Settlement located in the Hodan district of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

“We understand their hunger, their thirst and their need to look after their children,” said Mr. O’Brien, noting that by seeing it for himself, “we can make this story known to a much bigger world and try to help.”

“You need to know that you touch our hearts,” he said to the drought victims.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Mr. O’Brien heads up, Zone K first became an IDP settlement in 2011, when a large number of drought affected people from Lower Shabelle, Bay and Bakool regions settled.

It became one of the biggest IDP settlements in Mogadishu but, according to OCHA, the exact number of the people in Zone K is currently unknown.

“Whenever you have enormous pressure on people’s ability to survive or to be protected in conflict, you will get internal displacements, and here we have a severe trend of internal displacement,” explained Mr. O’Brien, noting the need to act “fast, now and together” in order to fund the programmes that would help support people in their hour of need.

Humanitarians in Somalia are seeking an overall $825 million to reach the most vulnerable with life-saving assistance until June 2017.

In a press release, the Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Peter de Clercq, stated that the “drought situation is deteriorating rapidly.” At this “critical phase,” he highlighted the need to “act fast and efficiently to avoid the worst.”

Mr. Contreras told UN News that whereas in 2011, the drought – and the resulting famine – was concentrated in South Central Somalia, this year, it is affecting more parts of the country, including the north-eastern and the Somaliland regions, with a higher total number of people at risk.

However, he mentioned that the donor community is responding “more energetically” and humanitarian partners have a larger presence around the country to respond to these emergency needs.

Mr. Contreras also noted that Somalia has a new Government, and that the country’s new President, Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’, is “completely committed to a robust and effective response to this crisis.”

6 March 2017 – The crisis in Africa’s Lake Chad Basin is of global concern and action is needed “right now,” the United Nations Security Council today said, wrapping up its four-country tour with the promise of long-term support for the Governments and the people in their fight against Boko Haram.

“Neither the military fight against terrorism nor the immediate humanitarian response will solve these protracted crises,” Ambassador Matthew Rycroft of the United Kingdom, who is leading the Council visit as President of the 15-nation body for the month of March, told journalists in Abuja.

He spoke alongside Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, as well as Fodé Seck, Representative of Senegal to the United Nations, and Michele Sison, Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations.

“What is needed in the end is long-term development,” Mr. Rycroft said, noting the need for jobs, education, human rights, services for displaced people and refugees, and solutions for coping with drought and other environmental challenges.

“Those are multifaceted, complex set of problems and require a holistic set of solutions, and we are here to support the Government of Nigeria in finding those solutions,” he vowed.

Yesterday, the Council members met with internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Teacher Village in Maiduguri, in hard-hit Borno state in the north-eastern part of the country. About half of the displaced persons living in the camp are children, with 379 of them infants.

The Council members joined a circle of survivors, many of whom were women whose husbands and children were killed by Boko Haram, and who are struggling to feed themselves and the remnants of families that they have left.

Members of the UN Security Council mission on a visit to the Lake Chad Basin visited the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and discussed challenges that the region is facing. Photo: Japan/UN Mission

“Their accounts of a life in crisis were beyond sobering,” Mr. Rycroft said.

The displaced camp is in Maiduguri, which is known as the epicentre of the years long Boko Haram crisis, according to Governor Kashim Shettima, who spoke with the Council members.

Some 14 million people are affected by Boko Haram, with 8.5 million people in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

While in Nigeria, the Council also met with women’s groups from across the country who called for a greater role in finding solutions to the Lake Chad Basin crisis.

“We can pass information faster than the men,” one woman told the Council.

The Council members also spoke with members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional group of 16 countries, with discussions focused on coordination of response and sharing of information.

The Council also met with Nigeria’s acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, and other senior political leaders.

After visiting Nigeria, and previously being in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, the Council emphasized that “barely enough is being done” to aid the crisis in the Lake Chad Basin.

“The scale we have seen is of a growing crisis. Famine is being averted at the moment because of the generosity of donors and the effectiveness of the national responses – but only just,” Mr. Rycroft said, adding: “We urge the international community as a whole to continue to step up before it is too late. And that means right now.”