Africa: UN Secretary-General wants juntas to leave and rich countries to help

The UN Secretary-General on Sunday called on the military juntas in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali to leave as soon as possible and called on rich countries to keep their promises to help the world face the South. climate emergency “.

“We agreed that it was important to continue the dialogue with the de facto authorities (including in Ouagadougou, Conakry and Bamako) to ensure a return to constitutional order as soon as possible,” Guterres told Dakar. his meeting with the head of state of Senegal, Maki Sal, who currently holds the presidency of the African Union.

Already facing the Sahel crisis, West Africa was further destabilized by a series of military coups in Mali (August 2020, May 2021), Guinea (September 2021) and Burkina Faso (January 2022).

The Economic Community of West African States (Cédéao) imposed heavy financial sanctions on Mali in January after the coup refused to hand over power to politicians and threatened Conakry and Ouagadougou if they a “reasonable” deadline.

But the ruling military in Burkina Faso and Guinea this week rejected its demands: Ouagadougou reaffirmed its three-year transition timetable, with Conakry announcing on Saturday that the transition would take “39 months”.

Describing the African Union as a “model for regional co-operation”, Mr Guterres, who is expected to travel to Niger and Nigeria after Senegal, said he had discussed with Mr Sal “joint efforts against terrorism and violent extremism”. in West Africa.

He emphasized the need to focus on “African peacekeeping operations and the fight against terrorism”, which is being carried out “rudely” by the African Union with the support of the United Nations, especially in Mali.

This country has been at the center of the Sahel crisis since 2012. Jihadist attacks have spread from its territory in Burkina Faso to the south and Niger to the east.

Stressing that the climate crisis “increases the security risk”, Guterres reminded that African countries are “often the first victims” of global warming for which “they are not responsible” and that developed countries are committed to help the countries of the South to finance their “transition to renewable energy and ‘green’ jobs”.

“It’s time to move on. It’s time to live up to the promise of $ 100 billion a year in Paris,” he said.

This commitment – which remains a blank slate to this day – to provide $ 100 billion a year in funding to poor countries from developed countries onwards from 2020 onwards, was made in 2015, when the International Climate Agreement was signed in Paris. in order to reduce global warming.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

Source: Capital

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