"WEST AFRICA"

UN Special Representative David Shearer reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to “doing everything possible” to support South Sudan’s COVID-19 response and stressed, “We are all in this fight together.” UNMISS

Well over 40 million people across West Africa face desperate food shortages in coming months, twice as many as before the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. UNTV CH

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) kick-started a network of global logistics hubs that will support the entire aid community and ensure the delivery of vital medical and humanitarian supplies to developing countries at a time when commercial air transport is at a virtual standstill. WFP

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has stepped up efforts across West and Central Africa to protect millions of vulnerable people who are facing a renewed risk from the combined effects of conflict and the coronavirus pandemic. UNHCR

Lower-than-expected production levels in China following the relaxation of lockdown measures there could be an indicator that tens of millions of people will have too little to eat globally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on Friday, while noting that there is no shortage of basic foodstuffs. UNTV CH

In her remarks to the Security Council on countering terrorism and extremism in Africa, UN chief of political affairs Rosemary Dicarlo said, “the threat of terrorism is often a consequence of development, humanitarian, human rights and security challenges that terrorist groups seek to exploit. Security and military solutions are thus not sufficient.” UNIFEED

After the last Ebola patient was discharged on 3 March at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the beginning of a 42-day observation period before it can declare the end of the Ebola outbreak - if there are no new cases diagnosed. WHO and partners have been combating the disease for the last 19 months. UNTV CH

Security Council extends mandate of United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, unanimously adopting resolution 2512 (2020).

Deadly attacks on villages in Burkina Faso have forced 150,000 people to flee in the last three weeks alone, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday, warning of a displacement emergency in the wider Sahel region. UNTV CH

Security Council presidential statement expresses concern over deteriorating conditions in Sahel, Lake Chad Basin.