World News in Brief: Sudan displacement ‘grim milestone’, UN deputy chief in West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire joins UN water treaty
More than 10 million people in Sudan have been displaced since war erupted last April, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday, citing the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The “grim milestone” means that 20 per cent of the population has been forced to flee in the span of just 15 months, he added.
“The majority of those displaced are inside the country – that is almost eight million human beings – and over half of those are children,” said Mr. Dujarric, speaking during his daily media briefing from UN Headquarters in New York.
“Meanwhile, more than two million people have crossed into neighbouring countries, countries that often are facing their own humanitarian challenges.”
Major humanitarian challenges
Mr. Dujarric said the humanitarian community in Sudan is doing everything possible to scale up assistance for people in need, including those who have fled the fighting.
On Tuesday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported the delivery of relief items for some 2,000 displaced and vulnerable families in East Darfur.
This followed the announcement over the weekend by the World Food Programme (WFP) that food assistance had been delivered for more than 120,000 internally displaced people in South Kordofan.
He warned, however, that aid organizations in Sudan continue to face major challenges, including the ongoing insecurity, access constraints, and funding shortfalls.
“Although the funding for this year’s Humanitarian Response Plan has increased over the past week, we are still at just 30 per cent of funding more than halfway through the year, with $820 million so far received in cash of the $2.7 billion that are needed,” he said.
On behalf of the UN, he appealed “to those who have pledged to turn those pledges into cash, and those who have not pledged to turn in pledges and cash.”
UN deputy chief on West Africa mission to review SDG challenges
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed arrived in Senegal on Tuesday – the first stop on a mission to West African countries where she will take stock of challenges in delivering the Sustainable Development (SDGs) and work with stakeholders to find pathways towards acceleration.
Her visit follows the SDG Summit held at UN Headquarters last September to ramp up progress towards achieving the 17 goals before the 2030 deadline.
Ms. Mohammed held meetings in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, and the Ministers for Finance, the Economy and Foreign Affairs.
Reaffirming UN support
“During those meetings, the Deputy Secretary-General reaffirmed our support to the Government toward key transitions to achieve the SDGs, including food systems transition, renewable energy, and the digital economy,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.
Ms. Mohammed is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday, and with the UN country team and civil society representatives, including women and youth groups.
She will then depart Senegal for Conakry, Guinea, to continue her tour of the region, which will also take her to Mali.
Following the visit, Ms. Mohammed will head to Ethiopia to preside over the opening of the First session of the Preparatory Committee for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
Côte d’Ivoire joins UN treaty on cross-border water management
Côte d’Ivoire has become the latest country to sign on to a UN treaty to improve joint water management across borders, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said on Tuesday.
The West African nation is the 53rd Party, and the 10th in Africa, to join the UN Water Convention, officially the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.
The move further consolidates the strong momentum for water cooperation in Africa, where over 90 per cent of water resources are in 63 basins shared by two or more countries, according to the UNECE, which services the Convention.
“Côte d’Ivoire’s accession is a milestone for multilateralism and reaffirms the role of the UN Water Convention as a tool to support water cooperation for peace, sustainable development and climate change adaptation across borders,” said Tatiana Molcean, the UNECE Executive Secretary.
Côte d’Ivoire has a population of some 30 million and shares eight transboundary river basins with neighbouring countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Meeting the water needs of the country’s population, which is growing by 2.5 per cent annually, brings significant challenges in the face of threats such as urbanisation, and climate change impacts - including drought and flooding.
At the same time, water quality is deteriorating due to pollution from agricultural, industrial waste, illegal gold panning and untreated wastewater. Water resources are also unevenly distributed across the country, with the north and north-east particularly affected.
“In the context of increasing water scarcity and high demand for water in Africa, Côte d’Ivoire's accession as the 10th African Party to the 1992 Water Convention is a significant step for the continent,” said Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Parties to the Convention will next meet in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in October.