UN/EU Retreat, Mali, Central African Republic…

Starting Thursday afternoon and most of the day on Friday, the United Nations and the European Commission will hold their first High-Level Dialogue and that will take place at the Greentree Foundation, just outside of New York City.  

In a statement we issued this morning, the Secretary-General strongly condemned yesterday’s attack due to an Improvised Explosive Device against a convoy of the UN Mission in Mali. Two Egyptian peacekeepers were killed. The latest number of injured is now nine, and the attack took place approximately 62 km north-east of Gao, in northern Mali.  
 
Our peacekeeping colleagues in the Central African Republic tell us that the Mission has intervened to protect civilians caught up in clashes between the CAR armed forces and the Union for Peace (UPC) rebel group at the Basse-Kotto Prefecture.  

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN’s joint human rights office has just released its monthly report. It documents an overall 8 per cent increase in abuses and violations in May compared to the previous month, that would be April, with two-thirds of cases attributed to armed groups and one third to state agents. 

Due to the drought in Somalia, it is believed that there will be famine in eight areas of the country by September. More than 200,000 men, women and children are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity for the first time since 2017, and food security will likely not improve until the middle of next year.  

From Afghanistan, 27,000 people have been displaced following recent fighting in the district of Balkhab in the Sar-e-Pul province in the north of the country. Our partners are preparing to provide food and other supplies to more than 10,000 people in Balkhab. 
  
In Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme today said that three in ten households are food insecure, according to its latest food security assessment. 

In Comoros, the UN team, led by Resident Coordinator François Batalingaya, is supporting authorities in advancing the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. 

This morning, the Economic and Social Council’s High-Level Political Forum focused on Sustainable Development Goal 4 – which is quality education and its linkages and co-benefits with other Goals. 

Today, our friends at the UN Department of Global Communications launched a new initiative called Football for the Goals. This provides a platform to mobilize the global football community to champion action around achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.