October 03, 2024 No comments
Lebanon: UN peacekeepers to stay the course amid escalating hostilities
INTERNATIONAL, By Vibhu Mishra 3 October 2024 Peace and Security - Peacekeepers positioned along the “Blue Line” of separation between Israel and Lebanon remain committed to their mandate, and will remain in place until conditions allow, the UN’s peacekeeping chief said on Thursday. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, expressed deep alarm over the escalation in southern Lebanon and the impact on civilians, reiterating the need for a cessation of hostilities and negotiations to restore calm. “UNIFIL peacekeepers feel duty-bound to the mandate given to them by the Security Council, and they feel duty-bound to the population in southern Lebanon,” he told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, referring to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. “The peacekeepers are currently staying in their position…Team UNIFIL remains united and committed.” He...
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October 03, 2024 No comments
Chagos Islands: UK’s last African colony returned to Mauritius
INTERNATIONAL, 3 October 2024 UN Affairs - The United Kingdom announced on Thursday that agreement has been reached to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending decades of dispute and negotiation over Britain’s last African colony. The agreement follows 13 rounds of talks that began in 2022 after Mauritian calls for sovereignty were recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN General Assembly in 2019 and 2021. The world court, as the ICJ is known, is the principle judicial organ of the UN which adjudicates disputes between nations. Before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain was found to have unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The UK had initially dismissed UN...
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October 03, 2024 No comments
Somalia: UN official reports on electoral progress, ongoing security challenges
INTERNATIONAL, 3 October 2024 Peace and Security - Authorities in Somalia remain focused on national priorities, and the battle against Al-Shabaab terrorists is their chief security concern, senior officials from the UN and the African Union (AU) said on Thursday. James Swan, acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), briefed the Security Council in New York alongside Mohammed El-Amine Souef, Head of the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). The mandate for UNSOM is set to expire at the end of the month, and Somalia has proposed a two-year process to transfer tasks to national authorities and the UN Country Team while drawdown of ATMIS forces continues. Constitutional amendments Mr. Swan highlighted recent progress made on the political front. In...
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October 03, 2024 No comments
Sudan war: ‘Horror’ grows as reports of summary executions emerge
INTERNATIONAL, By Vibhu Mishra - 3 October 2024 Human Rights - The UN-designated human rights expert on Sudan has called for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied militias, to take immediate steps to protect civilians in greater Khartoum amid escalating violence and alarming reports of summary executions. The warning on Thursday comes as the SAF launched a major offensive last month to regain control of key areas currently held by the RSF. The two armies led by rival generals have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023. The fighting has driven more than 11 million people from their homes in Sudan, including around 2.9 million forced into neighbouring countries as refugees. Together with climate shocks...
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October 03, 2024 No comments
WMO partnership to highlight damaging impact of climate change on winter sports
INTERNATIONAL, 3 October 2024 Climate and Environment - The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced on Thursday they are partnering to raise awareness about climate change’s harmful effects on winter sports and tourism. The two organizations are joining forces to call attention to the extensive impacts of increasing global temperatures on snow and ice while producing measures to strengthen scientific and sports-related conversations. The partnership is set to begin ahead of the 2024/2025 winter season and will initially last for five years. ‘The tip of the iceberg’ WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said climate change affecting winter sports and tourism is only “the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to impact. “Retreating glaciers, reduced snow and ice cover and thawing permafrost are having a major impact...
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