UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- A United Nations official on Tuesday urged member states to support the humanitarian response and revitalization of West Africa and the Sahel.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, special representative of the UN secretary general for West Africa and Sahel, made the remarks while briefing the Security Council on the recent activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), as well as developments on the ground.
Urging member states to support the humanitarian response and revitalization of the region, he said violence between farmers and herders is increasingly a major security threat, and risks morphing into the terrorist attacks that have defined the security landscape.
In that vein, he emphasized that any military response to those security challenges must be matched by the implementation of comprehensive strategies linking security and humanitarian interventions to development and human rights initiatives.
In other recent developments, he said, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea increased over the reporting period with both drug smuggling and the trafficking of small arms and light weapons, including by terrorist groups, posing major threats.
Since he last addressed the Council, he said, positive movement on the democratization front has been competing with the region's volatile security situation.
In the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, the spillover of the Malian crisis is increasingly affecting Burkina Faso and Niger, and terrorist groups continue to cause devastation throughout the region.
"The complexity of recent attacks is a worrying outcome of West African and Sahelian Islamist groups reinforcing their linkages," he said, adding that local insurgencies are also spreading, exacerbating intercommunal conflicts and undermining state authority.
Expressing concern over alleged human rights violations by security forces in the region, he called upon its governments to prevent such violations and bring the perpetrators to justice.
In the Lake Chad Basin, despite gains made by the Nigerian armed forces and the Multinational Joint Task Force, launched by the five countries that make up the Group of Five for the Sahel (G-5 Sahel), Boko Haram and the West Africa province of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant remain active.
On July 1, an attack in Niger killed 10 of that country's soldiers, and Boko Haram's trend of using female and child suicide bombers continues.
Calling for increased and holistic support to diplomatic, security and humanitarian responses to Boko Haram, he said UNOWAS is providing technical support for a joint summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the matter on July 30.
Describing environmental degradation and socioeconomic marginalization, impacting some 45 million people, resulting from Lake Chad's severe depletion, he said an estimated 2.3 million remain displaced by the aggregate effects of insecurity, weak governance and climate change.
Spotlighting an upsurge in popular discontent in the region, manifested through often violent demonstrations calling for political and economic reforms, he said several countries of the region also continue to struggle with justice, national reconciliation and human rights challenges.
In that regard, he urged member states to provide an enabling environment for the exercise of freedoms of expression and assembly, which are critical to the consolidation of democracy and good governance, and noted that, in a positive development, Benin and Burkina Faso recently abolished the death penalty.
The region has continued on a positive trajectory since his last briefing, with local elections in Guinea, local and municipal elections in the Gambia, and presidential, legislative and local elections in Sierra Leone.
Noting that the continuing political crisis in Togo has already caused the suspension of parliamentary elections, he outlined ECOWAS mediation efforts to overcome the political impasse, warning that "democratic gains in the region are not immune to reversal."?
GRE数学模拟练习题(3)
GRE数学核心知识点归纳
GRE数学题目读不懂怎么办
GRE数学常考题总结(1-27):几何
GRE数学主要符号汇总
GRE数学最常用的概念罗列
GRE数学易错题型解析(1-10)
GRE数学经典题目讲解:几何
GRE数学考试题型+形式介绍
GRE数学专项考试全攻略(1)
GRE数学练习题及答案(1-5)
欲拿GRE数学满分 需把握基础概念
GRE数学需要注意的难点
GRE数学常考题总结(1-18):代数
GRE数学常见问题分析
GRE数学三大题目分析
GRE数学备考必备考点:算术
GRE和GMAT数学常考公式介绍
GRE数学代数常考题总结
GRE数学常考题型举例分析:排列组合
GRE sub数学考试要点介绍
GRE数学考试技巧:难题并非重点
GRE数学满分七大要素解析
GRE数学主要考查图表题列举
GRE数学考试常见词汇归纳列举
GRE数学考试重点试题:算术(6)
GRE数学专项考试全攻略(2)
GRE数学图表题高分方法
GRE数学疑难问题解答思路(2)
GRE考试数学词汇记忆总结:B部分
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |