PRAY FOR WEST & CENTRAL AFRICA as Schools being Shut down robbing students of their education in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria

23 August 2019
Culture and Education

Data gathered by UNICEF to June indicates that 9,272 schools have been closed in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria as a result of insecurity - three times the number at the end of 2017. 

“Schools are being shut down,” according to UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Charlotte Petri Gornitzka. “Over the past two years, the number of schools that have been shut down has tripled; over 9,000 schools due to the insecurity have been attacked.”

The UNICEF report notes how spreading insecurity across north-west and south-west Cameroon has left more than 4,400 schools forcibly closed.

In Burkina Faso, more than 2,000 schools are closed, along with more than 900 in Mali, owing to increasing violence in both countries.

In the central Sahel region, moreover, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have witnessed a six-fold increase in school closures owing to attacks and threats of violence in just over two years, from 512 in April 2017, to more than 3,000 by June this year.

School closures in the four countries affected by crisis in the Lake Chad Basin – Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – remained at around 1,000 between the end of 2017 and June 2019. 

A surge in “deliberate” attacks against students, teachers and schools in West and Central Africa has led to a tripling in school closures in the last year and left almost two million youngsters “robbed of an education”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.


In a new report detailing threats of violence against schools across the region and issues as a ‘Child Alert’, the UN agency warned that a generation of children risks being denied the right to learn.

“Nearly two million children are out of school due to conflict, so it is not an easy number,” UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Muzoon Almellehan, told journalists in Geneva. “It is important to highlight those challenges, to highlight the struggle of those people. They need us, they need our attention.”

From Burkina Faso to Nigeria, more than 9,200 schools shut


Education is crucial when you’ve fled violence – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Just back from visiting a camp for people displaced by violence in central Mali, Ms. Almellehan insisted in Geneva that for many people, herself included, education was vitally important in giving children hope for a better future.

“I had to flee my homeland in Syria in 2013 and I also had to live in refugee camps,” she explained. “It wasn’t easy for me and also I can feel like those children who can’t go to school, because education is something really, really important to me, myself.”

One direct result of children not getting an education is that they are more vulnerable to recruitment by extremists or abuse at their hands such as forced marriage, the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador insisted.

“When a child is not at a school, especially if the child suffers from a very bad economic situation, when they are in poverty, when they don’t have enough awareness, all of that can affect that child and can lead that child to being exploited easily,” she said.

On a wider level, the lack of schooling “is casting a foreboding shadow upon children”, their families, their communities and society at large,” UNICEF said in a statement, noting that more than 40 million six to 14-year-olds are already missing out on school in Central and West Africa.

The agency is working with education authorities and communities to support alternative learning opportunities including community learning centres, radio school programmes, technology for teaching and learning, and faith-based learning initiatives.

It is also providing tools for teachers who work in dangerous locations, and psychosocial support and care for schoolchildren emotionally scarred by violence.

$221 million appeal across seven countries only 28 per cent funded

“Now more than ever, governments must reaffirm their commitment to education and protect spending on education for their youngest citizens,” the UNICEF report insists. “Now is the time for renewed efforts to make sure the potential of a generation of young people is not wasted,” it emphasized, highlighting a funding gap of 72 per cent of the $221 million required for educational programmes across seven countries in the region.

PRAY FOR LIBYA to stop fighting, set aside their differences, and work together through dialogue, and not violence, to end the conflict

Three UN workers killed following Benghazi car bomb attack, as Security Council meets in emergency session, honours their ‘ultimate sacrifice’

10 August 2019
Peace and Security


Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned a car bomb attack in front of a shopping mall in the Libyan city of Benghazi, which left three UN workers dead, and three others injured, with dozens of civilians also wounded.


The Security Council convened an emergency session in New York later in the day,to discuss the latest developments impacting the war-torn north African nation.

According to a statement from the UN Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salame, the staff members who died and were injured served with the UN Support Mission in the country, UNSMIL, which he heads. Scores of civilians were also injured by the explosion.

“This cowardly attack, which comes at a time when Libyans are out shopping in preparation for the Eid al-Adha, serves as another strong reminder of the urgent need for Libyans to stop fighting, set aside their differences, and work together through dialogue, and not violence, to end the conflict”, he said.


Mr. Salame added that “this attack will not discourage us, nor will it prevent us from carrying out our duties to bring about peace, stability and prosperity to Libya and its people.”

Mr. Guterres said in a statement issued by his Spokesperson that he condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, extending his deepest condolences to the bereaved families. “He calls on the Libyan authorities to spare no effort in identifying and swiftly bringing to justice the perpetrators of this attack”.

“The Secretary-General calls on all parties to respect the humanitarian truce during Eid al Adha and return to the negotiating table to pursue the peaceful future the people of Libya deserve”, the statement added.

The UN has been attempting to broker a truce in fighting which erupted following a major assault in April on the southern outskirts of the capital Tripoli by the forces of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord.

The Benghazi-based LNA has not been able to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, but it controls large swathes of eastern and southern Libya, under the command of its leader, Commander Khalifa Haftar. Hundreds of civilians and fighters have been killed in the fighting, while more than a 100,000 have been forced to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands have crossed the border into Tunisia, seeking safety.

According to news reports, in the last 24 hours, both the Government and LNA had accepted a UN proposal for a ceasefire during the holy Muslim holiday of Eid, beginning on Sunday. UNSMIL issued a statement late on Saturday welcoming the agreement “by concerned parties to the principle of humanitarian truce”.
Security Council honours ‘ultimate sacrifice’ of fallen UNSMIL staff

The UN Ambassador for Poland, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council for the month of August, Joanna Wroneka, said on behalf of the 15-member body that they condemned “in the strongest terms, the outrageous, deadly and totally unacceptable attack on the United Nations, that occurred today”.

She conveyed the Members’ deepest condolences to the families of the victims. “Those brave workers were operating under a mandate given by this Council in order to provide a more secure future, for the people of Libya. We commemorate their ultimate sacrifice, in the cause of peace.”

UN Photo/Evan Schneider
The Security Council observes a moment of silence during an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya, convened after a car bomb attack in Benghazi killed three United Nations staff members and injured two others, among scores of injured Libyan nationals.
UN has no intention ‘to evacuate’ from Libya: Bintou Keita

The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Bintou Keita, briefed the Council late on Saturday afternoon in New York, saying that the attack “serves to highlight the continued danger of terrorism across the country, and the limits of effective security control in the absence of one Government and one military, and police force, working across the country.”

She said it confirmed that the chronic violence and instability “is creating a vacuum easily exploited by radical elements that thrive on chaos and violence” and noted that the attack came in an area “supposedly under full control” of the LNA.

“The UN does not intent to evacuate from Libya” she said pointedly. “For the forseeable future, our place remains alongside the Libyan people, like our brave colleagues who gave their lives today.”

Ms. Keita expressed hope that both sides would abide by the Eid truce” in good faith, to their public commitment. Senseless and absurd violence needs to stop.”

She noted that Libya was incapable of pushing back against terrorism, “the tragedy of illegal migration” or the continued collapse of its economy, without pulling together in search of a common political solution through an agreed political process.

UNSMIL had worked hard in the days leading up to the truce. “It is essential that this truce is deepened and strengthened” through confidence-building measures such as prisoner exchanges, she urged, “and that the parties move quickly forward to an international meeting to recommit to a roadmap to transition the country from conflict, back to the peaceful, democratic process.”

She warned that “the continued brutal descent of southern Libya into chaos, and inter-communal fueds is a disturbing harbinger of what may ensue should the wider conflict persist.”

PRAY FOR NIGERIA as Humanitarian Crisis 7.1 million people in need of life-saving assistance

“We have to pay attention to the needs and rights of people, especially those of women and children, and support local organisations to play a more visible role in the response. The protracted crisis in the north-east is of matter to the entire country. We don’t want this crisis to last another 10 years,” said Ms. Josephine Habba, President of the Nigeria NGO Network on Humanitarian Development Initiative (NINGONET).

1 August 2019
Humanitarian Aid


Ten years after the start of a violent insurgency in north-east Nigeria plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis that is “still far from over”, the United Nations and its aid partners have underscored the need to “collectively redouble efforts” to help the most vulnerable.


“We are here today to remember those who have lost their lives in the conflict, and to remind of those still struggling to survive and rebuild their lives” Edward Kallon, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria said Thursday in Abuja, the West African country's capital.

The humanitarian community in Nigeria, which is comprised of the UN, the Government and non-governmental organizations, convened to solemnly mark the tenth year of the crisis in north-east Nigeria and to remember the millions of people affected.


“Ten years on, it is not the time for us to spare any effort”, continued Mr. Kallon, saying that at this “very critical period”, requires redoubled efforts, “with support at all levels – locally, nationally and internationally.”

The humanitarian community emphasized the immense needs caused by the crisis, the necessity to continue scaling up life-saving assistance and their commitment to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

Gathering at the UN house, they also reaffirmed their commitment to work together to help people rebuild their lives and communities.

“We have to pay attention to the needs and rights of people, especially those of women and children, and support local organisations to play a more visible role in the response. The protracted crisis in the north-east is of matter to the entire country. We don’t want this crisis to last another 10 years,” said Ms. Josephine Habba, President of the Nigeria NGO Network on Humanitarian Development Initiative (NINGONET).

The group also launched a virtual reality and photo exhibition of how the crisis is impacting the lives of compatriots living in conflict-stricken areas, which is being held at Jabi Lake Mall in the capital of Abuja until 15 August.

“The Holding On exhibition transports viewers into the homes and communities of internally displaced people who share the evocative stories of their displacement and the significance of the single possession they are holding on to”, said Richard Danziger, the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “This is the first time the exhibition visits one of the countries where these stories originate from and it is a unique opportunity for the people of Nigeria to experience these testimonies through their own eyes”.

Over the last decade, the conflict has claimed the lives of some 27,000 civilians and devastated entire communities, villages and towns across the three most-affected states.

Today, the ongoing humanitarian crisis remains among one of the most severe in the world with 7.1 million people in need of life-saving assistance and 1.8 million people uprooted from their homes – the vast majority of them women and children.

The humanitarian community has significantly scaled up collective efforts in recent years and reached nearly six million people with life-saving assistance in 2018.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) mobilizes and coordinates principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.