Tag Archives: declares

Somalia declares drought emergency as millions face hunger after failed rains

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On 10 November, the Federal Government of Somalia formally declared a drought emergency and appealed for urgent international assistance as conditions continued to deteriorate across northern, central and southern regions, according to the UN relief coordination office, OCHA.

Puntland is among the worst affected areas, where authorities estimate that nearly one million people need support, including 130,000 in immediate life-threatening need.

A UN assessment mission to Bari and Nugaal regions earlier this month found communities grappling with acute water and food shortages, with residents warning that catastrophe could unfold in the coming months.

“We have not received rain since last year; this is the worst drought in years,” said Abdiqani Osman Omar, the mayor of Shaxda village in Bari region.

“Hundreds of displaced families moved here three months ago, and more are coming. The new arrivals are mostly women and children as the men have moved to nearby Ethiopia in search of pasture and water.”

The village has no capacity to support them, he added, stating that even host communities need water and food assistance.

Dried up water sources, abandoned settlements

Across Puntland, water points have dried up, vegetation has withered and once-inhabited pastoral settlements now stand abandoned.

In Dhaxan town, where brief Gu’ season (April-June) showers offered short-lived hope earlier this year, residents are now dependent on expensive trucked water after the local borehole was found to be contaminated.

Community leader Jama Abshir Hersi said around 150 families moved to the town after the rains.

“We used to receive food and nutrition assistance, and medical supplies for our health unit. All that assistance has dwindled,” he said.

Funding shortfalls

Funding shortfalls are compounding the crisis.

As of 23 November, Somalia’s 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan was only 23.7 per cent funded, forcing major reductions in assistance. The number of people receiving emergency food aid plunged from 1.1 million in August to just 350,000 this month.

In Puntland alone, 89 supplementary feeding sites and 198 health and stabilization centres are facing severe supply shortages.

Millions going hungry

The drought is unfolding amid an already dire humanitarian landscape. At least 4.4 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity through December, while 1.85 million children under five are expected to suffer acute malnutrition through mid-2026.

Weather forecasts indicate little immediate relief. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that dry and hot conditions are expected to persist across most of the country, particularly in central and northern regions.

“The prevailing high temperatures and poor rain are likely to exacerbate water stress and limit pasture regeneration in most areas,” the agency said.

World News in Brief: Executions surge in Iran, nuclear test threat, Burkina Faso declares top official unwelcome

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At least 841 people have been put to death by the Government of Iran since the beginning of the year, with ethnic minorities and migrants “disproportionately targeted”, said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

Some executions have been carried out publicly, she added, with seven reported this year based on available information: “The real situation might be different. It might be worse given the lack of transparency in the use of the death penalty.”

Imminent executions

Eleven people now face imminent execution; six have been charged with “armed rebellion” owing to their alleged membership of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq group.  

Five others are on death row in connection with their participation in the 2022 protests, following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly.  

Ms. Shamdasani reiterated calls from UN rights chief Volker Türk for Iran to impose a moratorium on the application of the capital punishment, as a step towards its abolition.

UN chief warns against ‘playing with fire’ as nuclear test threat looms

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark warning on the International Day against Nuclear Tests, urging world leaders to halt the threat of renewed detonations.

“Stop playing with fire. Now is the time to silence the bombs before they speak again,” he said in his message, which coincides with the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test on 16 July 1945 – in the New Mexico desert under the Manhattan Project.

A deadly legacy

Since then, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried out worldwide.  

Atmospheric tests in the early decades of the nuclear era spread radioactive fallout across continents, contaminating land and seas, displacing communities and leaving survivors facing health crises passed down through generations.

The international day was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2009, following Kazakhstan’s closure of the Semipalatinsk test site.

It has since become a rallying point for governments, civil society and campaigners pressing for an end to nuclear testing and progress towards full disarmament.

Mr. Guterres stressed that nuclear testing remains a grave danger amid rising geopolitical tensions. He urged States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted by a large majority in 1996 but still not in force nearly three decades later.

“We must never forget the horrific legacy of over 2,000 nuclear tests,” the Secretary-General said. “The world cannot accept this.”

Burkina Faso declares UN Coordinator persona non grata  

The UN chief has expressed regret of the decision by authorities in Burkina Faso to declare the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, persona non grata.

In a statement on Friday, António Guterres said that the transitional authorities had announced the diplomatic sanction declaring her unwelcome, on 18 August.

The UN chief expressed “full confidence” in her “professionalism and dedication and in the broader United Nations system in Burkina Faso.”

During her tenure, Ms. Flore-Smereczniak – who has now left the country – led UN efforts working closely with the Burkinabe authorities to support development initiatives and provide humanitarian assistance.

UN will continue to support Burkinabe

The statement stresses that the UN Charter makes clear the doctrine of persona non grata does not apply to UN officials, as staff members appointed by the Secretary-General are responsible solely to the Organization, and Member States undertake to respect their exclusively international character.

In line with the Charter, the United Nations enjoys privileges and immunities, including the right of its staff to remain and carry out their mandated work.

“Only the Secretary-General, as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization, has the authority to decide – after careful investigation – on the withdrawal of any United Nations official.”

Mr. Guterres reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to continue supporting the people of Burkina Faso, and to keep working with the national authorities.  

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UN’s Guterres declares fossil fuel era fading; presses nations for new climate plans before COP30 summit

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In a special address at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres cited surging clean energy investment and plunging solar and wind costs that now outcompete fossil fuels.

“The energy transition is unstoppable, but the transition is not yet fast enough or fair enough,” he said.

The speech, A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the Clean Energy Age – a follow‑up to last year’s Moment of Truth – was delivered alongside a new UN technical report drawing on global energy and finance bodies.

“Just follow the money,” Mr. Guterres said, noting that $2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70 per cent in a decade.

Key points from the address

  • Point of no return – The world has irreversibly shifted towards renewables, with fossil fuels entering their decline
  • Clean energy surge – $2 trillion invested in clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels
  • Cost revolution – Solar now 41 per cent cheaper and offshore wind 53 per cent cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives.
  • Global challenge – Calls on G20 nations to align new national climate plans with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement
  • Energy security – Renewables ensure “real energy sovereignty”
  • Six opportunity areas – Climate plan ambition, modern grids, sustainable demand, just transition, trade reform, and finance for emerging markets.

A shift in possibility

He noted new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showing solar, once four times costlier, is now 41 per cent cheaper than fossil fuels.

Similarly, offshore wind is 53 per cent cheaper, with more than 90 per cent of new renewables worldwide beating the cheapest new fossil alternative.

“This is not just a shift in power. It is a shift in possibility,” he said.

Renewables nearly match fossil fuels in global installed power capacity, and “almost all the new power capacity built” last year came from renewables, he said, noting that every continent added more clean power than fossil fuels.

Clean energy is unstoppable

Mr. Guterres underscored that a clean energy future “is no longer a promise, it is a fact”. No government, no industry and no special interest can stop it.

“Of course, the fossil fuel lobby will try, and we know the lengths to which they will go. But, I have never been more confident that they will fail because we have passed the point of no return.”

He urged countries to lock ambition into the next round of national climate plans, or NDCs, due within months. Mr. Guterres called on the G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 per cent of emissions, to submit new plans aligned with the 1.5°C limit and present them at a high‑level event in September.

Targets, he added, must “double energy efficiency and triple renewables capacity by 2030” while accelerating “the transition away from fossil fuels”.

Real energy sovereignty

The Secretary-General also highlighted the geopolitical risks of fossil fuel dependence.

“The greatest threat to energy security today is fossil fuels,” he said, citing price shocks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“There are no price spikes for sunlight, no embargoes on wind. Renewables mean real energy security, real energy sovereignty and real freedom from fossil-fuel volatility.”

Six opportunity areas

Mr. Guterres mapped six “opportunity areas” to speed the transition: ambitious NDCs, modern grids and storage, meeting soaring demand sustainably, a just transition for workers and communities, trade reforms to broaden clean‑tech supply chains, and mobilising finance to emerging markets.

Financing, however, is the choke point. Africa, home to 60 per cent of the world’s best solar resources, received just 2 per cent of global clean energy investment last year, he said.

Only one in five clean energy dollars over the past decade went to emerging and developing economies outside China. Flows must rise more than five-fold by 2030 to keep the 1.5-degree limit alive and deliver universal access.

Mr. Guterres urged reform of global finance, stronger multilateral development banks and debt relief, including debt‑for‑climate swaps.

“The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing. We are in the dawn of a new energy era,” he said in closing.

“That world is within reach, but it won’t happen on its own. Not fast enough. Not fair enough. It is up to us. This is our moment of opportunity.”

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‘Cooperation is humanity’s greatest innovation,’ UN chief declares at BRICS summit

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Speaking at the 17th BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he emphasised the human impact of environmental devastation and climate change.  And as environmental disasters increase, the sustainable development goals are also being left behind.  

“Across the world, lives and livelihoods are being ripped apart, and sustainable development gains left in tatters as disasters accelerate,” Mr. Guterres said. 

“The impact on human health is atrocious…the vulnerable and the poorer pay the highest price.” 

BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006. South Africa joined in 2011 and Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the group since. Collectively, these eleven States represent over half of the world’s population and approximately one-third of the world’s GDP.  

Artificial intelligence must benefit all

On Sunday, Mr. Guterres addressed a session on strengthening multilateralism, economic-financial affairs and artificial intelligence, where he called for efforts to “minimize the risks and maximize the potential” of the breakthrough technology.

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping economies and societies. The fundamental test is how wisely we will guide this transformation, how we minimize the risks and maximize the potential for good,” he said.  

To maximize the potential, the Secretary-General argued that AI cannot be “a club of the few but must benefit all,” calling for the “real voice” of developing countries to be included in global AI governance.

He also said that human rights and equity must be the guiding principles which shape any international governance structure for AI.  

“We cannot govern AI effectively – and fairly – without confronting deeper, structural imbalances in our global system,” he said.  

Collaboration is key

UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the need for peace amid conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar.

He called for urgent reform of global institutions, noting that bodies like the Security Council and international financial systems were “designed for a bygone age, a bygone world, with a bygone system of power relations.”

“The reform of the Security Council is crucial,” he said, highlighting also calls from the recent financing for development conference in Sevilla.

Priorities include greater voice for developing countries in global governance, effective debt restructuring, and tripling multilateral bank lending – especially in concessional and local-currency terms.

Call for reform

Mr. Guterres concluded his remarks highlighting the power of cooperation and trust.

“At a time when multilateralism is being undermined, let us remind the world that cooperation is humanity’s greatest innovation,” he said.

“Let us rise to this moment – and reform and modernize multilateralism, including the UN and all the systems and institutions to make it work for everyone, everywhere.” 

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