logo
Burkina Faso declares UN coordinator persona non grata

Burkina Faso declares UN coordinator persona non grata

TimesLIVE21 hours ago
Burkina Faso has declared United Nations regional coordinator Carol Flore-Smereczniak persona non grata over a UN report alleging violations against children in the West African country, a government spokesperson said on Monday.
Burkinabe authorities were neither involved in the preparation of the UN report, titled "Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso", nor informed of the study's conclusions before publication, the government spokesperson said in a statement.
The UN expressed regret over the decision, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
"The organisation is accorded privileges and immunities, including the right for its staff members to remain in Burkina Faso in order to perform their functions on behalf of the organisation," he said.
The government accused the UN of making baseless assertions and stating falsehoods in the report, without citing relevant investigations or court rulings.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Togo tight-lipped as Burkina jihadists infiltrate north
Togo tight-lipped as Burkina jihadists infiltrate north

eNCA

time15 hours ago

  • eNCA

Togo tight-lipped as Burkina jihadists infiltrate north

Jihadists from Burkina Faso have stepped up their assaults on northern Togo since the beginning of the year, with the Togolese government tight-lipped on their covert infiltration. Keen not to sap the morale of the Togolese soldiers fighting the incursion, the small west African nation's authorities have offered little in the way of official comment or figures on violence by jihadists, who have gained ground since their first deadly attack in the country in 2022. In a rare admission, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey recently said Islamist fighters had killed at least 62 people since January -- more than double the deaths the government recorded in the whole of 2023. Those losses reflect a surge in jihadist unrest in Togo's north, at a time when armed fighters linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group are gaining ground across the wider west African region. For Togolese political scientist and essayist Madi Djabakate, the lack of coverage in the Togolese press stems from the government's "policy of informational lockdown". Togo's High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC) has "expressly forbidden journalists from mentioning the attacks or human or material losses, so as not to demoralise the troops engaged on the ground", he told AFP. - Porous borders - Like neighbouring Benin, Togo is confronted with an overspill of violence from eastern Burkina Faso, where jihadists run rampant. In 2024, Burkina Faso saw the most deaths of any country in the world from "terrorism" for the second year running, with 1,532 victims out of a worldwide total of 7,555, according to the Global Terrorism Index. Located near the Togolese border, the Burkinabe province of Kompienga is home to a powerful branch of the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym, JNIM. AFP | Ioana PLESEA, Valentina BRESCHI Just over the frontier, Kpendjal prefecture is the Togolese region worst-hit by jihadist attacks, which west African security specialist Mathias Khalfaoui said was a result of the porous border. Yet in the past year the violence has spread beyond the borderlands. In a study for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank associated with Germany's conservative CDU party, Khalfaoui said the jihadist advance could easily go under the radar "because of its slow and methodical nature". "Until 2023, the danger was still concentrated in the territories directly bordering Burkina Faso," the analyst said. Since May 2024, he said, the jihadists have extended their influence further south, towards the nearby prefectures of Oti and South Oti. - 'Absence of the state' - Khalfaoui said the expansion of the jihadists' scope in Togo was "becoming clear". "We have to go back to December 2022 to find a month when, to our knowledge, there was no attack," Khalfaoui said in his study. But tackling the issue is a challenge given the dire economic situation of Togo's north, the poorest and least developed part of an already impoverished nation, Khalfaoui added. AFP | PIUS UTOMI EKPEI Djabakate, the Togolese political scientist, agreed, arguing that the country's current approach was "essentially military and repressive". "The affected prefectures, notably Kpendjal and West Kpendjal, suffer from a structural absence of the state," Djabakate said. "Civil servants posted to these areas perceive their assignment as a punishment, given the harsh living conditions and the absence of public services," he added. Togo has deployed around 8,000 soldiers to the affected region, while the defence budget ballooned from 8.7 percent of GDP in 2017 to 17.5 percent in 2022, according to Foreign Minister Dussey. The government has also attempted to improve living conditions for Togolese in the north, through an emergency aid programme launched in 2023. But the situation is unlikely to improve without better coordination on tackling jihadism between countries in a divided west Africa, according to analysts in the region.

UN debates future withdrawal of Lebanon peacekeeping force
UN debates future withdrawal of Lebanon peacekeeping force

eNCA

time15 hours ago

  • eNCA

UN debates future withdrawal of Lebanon peacekeeping force

The United Nations Security Council began to debate Monday a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim to withdraw it. Israel and the United States have reportedly opposed the renewal of the force's mandate, and it was unclear if the draft text has backing from Washington, which wields a veto on the Council. A US State Department spokesman said "we don't comment on ongoing UN Security Council negotiations," as talks continued on the fate of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed since 1978 to separate Lebanon and Israel. The text, first reported by Reuters, would "extend the mandate of UNIFIL until August 31, 2026" but "indicates its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL." That would be on the condition that Lebanon's government was the "sole provider of security in southern Lebanon... and that the parties agree on a comprehensive political arrangement." Under a truce that ended a recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Beirut's army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the militant group's infrastructure there. Lebanon has been grappling with the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah, with the cabinet this month tasking the army with developing a plan to do so by the end of the year. The Iran-backed group has pushed back. Under the truce, Israel was meant to completely withdraw from Lebanon, though it has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic and continues to administer strikes across Lebanon. Israel's forces have also had tense encounters with the UN blue helmets. The draft resolution under discussion also "calls for enhanced diplomatic efforts to resolve any dispute or reservation pertaining to the international border between Lebanon and Israel." Council members were debating the draft resolution seen by AFP Monday ahead of a vote of the 15-member council on August 25 before the expiration of the force's mandate at the end of the month.

Burkina Faso declares UN coordinator persona non grata
Burkina Faso declares UN coordinator persona non grata

TimesLIVE

time21 hours ago

  • TimesLIVE

Burkina Faso declares UN coordinator persona non grata

Burkina Faso has declared United Nations regional coordinator Carol Flore-Smereczniak persona non grata over a UN report alleging violations against children in the West African country, a government spokesperson said on Monday. Burkinabe authorities were neither involved in the preparation of the UN report, titled "Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso", nor informed of the study's conclusions before publication, the government spokesperson said in a statement. The UN expressed regret over the decision, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. "The organisation is accorded privileges and immunities, including the right for its staff members to remain in Burkina Faso in order to perform their functions on behalf of the organisation," he said. The government accused the UN of making baseless assertions and stating falsehoods in the report, without citing relevant investigations or court rulings.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store