By Marcel Alers The author is Head of Energy of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) NEW YORK (IDN) – The energy sector, still dominated by fossil fuels, is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. We know people and nations need reliable sources of energy to power hospitals and light schools, and to safely cook, […]
Unease as UN Peace Mission in Sudan Ends and Ethiopian Soldiers Return Home
Compiled by EEPA BRUSSELS (IDN) – The TPLF is keeping control of mountainous areas in Tigray. As many analysts predicted when Mekelle was taken, the ENDF has had difficulties driving the TPLF out of well entrenched mountain positions. The ENDF has launched an offensive towards Samre, East of Mekelle. Meanwhile, cruelties against civilians are reported. […]
India Has an Ambitious Agenda as UN Security Council Member
By Devinder Kumar NEW DELHI (IDN) – With the start of the New Year, India joins the 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member for the eighth time. Along with Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico, India will have a two-year term: 2021-2022. Of the 15 UNSC members, five occupy a permanent seat. […]
Things Getting Complicated for Ethiopia
Compiled by EEPA BRUSSELS (IDN) – Multiple sources state that Eritrean soldiers are blocked in attempts to leave Tigray. Heavy fighting between Ethiopia National Defence Forces (ENDF) and Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) is taking place near the major roads out to Eritrea. This has stopped the Eritrean transfer of looted goods out of the region.
Make 2021 A Fairer, Safer, Healthier World for Children
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 371,500 children would be born on the first day of 2021, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The agency’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore said on the eve of the New Year day: “The children born today enter a world far different than even a year […]
Culture Struggling to Survive COVID-19 Impact
By Jaya Ramachadran PARIS (IDN) – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has urged adequate policies and actions to help the culture sector weather the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. The sector employs more than 30 million people globally. It has been hit much harder than expected.
An Overview of the Situation in Tigray as 2021 Begins
By EEPA BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than two million children in Tigray do not have access to food, water and safety and may have been displaced. While there is a severe humanitarian situation regarding 100.000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray; full humanitarian access has not been given.
Let Us Make 2021 a Year of Healing!
The following is the text of 2021 United Nations New Year’s message delivered by Secretary-General António Guterres. NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 has been a year of trials, tragedies and tears. COVID-19 upended our lives and plunged the world into suffering and grief.
UN Assembly President Calls for Working Together for A Better Tomorrow
NEW YORK (IDN | UN News) – The President of the United Nations General Assembly has urged everyone around the world “to continue to work together” to end the coronavirus pandemic, and to build an inclusive and sustainable future. In a message for the New Year, Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said that each individual, community, […]
UN Supplies Food for 25,000 Refugees in Tigray Region
Compiled by Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – For the first time since mid-October, some 25,000 Eritrean refugees, sheltering in two camps in the unsettled Tigray region of Ethiopia, have received desperately needed food aid, reports UN News. “Families, women, men, children — even new-borns — have been cut off from supplies and essential […]