Day: December 31, 2022

UNITED NATIONS— United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned looting and attacks on UN facilities and equipment in Darfur, which were gifted to the government of Sudan for civilian use.

Unknown armed groups attacked a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, on Tuesday evening.

A total of 1,900 metric tons of food commodities, enough to feed 730,000 vulnerable people for a month, were stolen.

Earlier this week, looting and violence were reported at the former UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) base in El Fasher.

The UN chief urged Sudan to restore order in his statement.

The authorities must ensure that former UNAMID properties and assets are used only for civilian purposes, according to the framework agreement the government signed in March.

Furthermore, the UN head asked the Sudanese authorities to facilitate a safe working environment and passage for remaining UN operations in the region.

As a final note, he thanked the UN civilian and uniformed personnel who remain on the ground under “challenging” conditions.

Khardiata Lo N’Diaye, the humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, condemned the looting as well.

“This was food assistance meant for Sudan’s most vulnerable people. Humanitarian assistance should never be a target,” she underscored.

Sudan currently has one in three people in need of humanitarian assistance – an estimated 14.3 million people. Twenty-five percent of those people require food security and livelihood support, according to the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan.

A situation like this, the coordinator explained, severely hinders the ability to provide aid to those in need.

“We urgently ask all parties to adhere to humanitarian principles and allow the safe delivery of life-saving assistance,” N’Diaye stated.

According to estimates, the WFP faces “unprecedented” funding shortfalls of 358 million U.S. dollars.

Earlier in the month, thousands of people took to the streets to mark the third anniversary of the uprising that led to the April 2019 overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir.

State authorities reported that the security situation has been restored as of Dec 29.

N’diaye thanked the local authorities for preventing the situation from worsening, but urged the government to step up efforts to protect and safeguard humanitarian properties and assets.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

South Africans took their last opportunity to pay their respects to Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday, the eve of the revered anti-apartheid fighter’s funeral.

Since Thursday, nearly 3,000 mourners have filed through Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral before the simple pine casket containing Tutu’s remains.

Members of Tutu’s family hugged and consoled each other as the coffin returned for the second and final day to lie in state while a band, which included a preschooler trumpeter, played in his honor.

The archbishop’s successor, Thabo Makgoba, waved a chalice of burning incense over the coffin before pallbearers, Anglican vicars, took the coffin from a silver Mercedes SUV hearse.

They slowly walked up the stairs into the cathedral where Tutu had preached for a decade.

The body will spend the night in the cathedral until the funeral, which will be presided over by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Tutu died peacefully Sunday at age 90.

The funeral

Tutu had carefully set down details for his funeral, insisting that his coffin be “the cheapest” available, and that it be adorned by a simple bunch of carnations.

Mourners are being asked to donate money to his charitable foundations instead of sending flowers, and even the disposal of his remains is being conducted in an eco-friendly way.

The dean of the cathedral, Michael Weeder, told AFP that Tutu had asked for “aquamation,” a process that supporters say releases one-tenth of climate-altering carbon dioxide gases compared with traditional cremation.

In aquamation, bodies are dissolved in a heated solution of water and alkali in a stainless steel vessel, leaving behind the bones, which are then turned to ash by cremation.

The ashes are to be interred at the cathedral.

The burial “might be Sunday,” Weeder said in a text message, adding the “family will decide whether it will be private or open to others.”

‘Moral compass’

Libane Serenji, an artist from Johannesburg, came to pay respects. He painted portraits of Tutu on a canvas and attached them to a tree outside the cathedral.

He said it was fitting “to come all the way and paint … because he played also a significant role in my life like everyone from Africa.”

Another mourner, Antonia Appels, had come from the capital, Pretoria, to stand in line.

Tutu was a “moral compass” who had helped haul country out of the darkness of the apartheid era, she said.

South Africa is marking a week of mourning for Tutu, with the country’s multicolored flag flying at half-staff nationwide and ceremonies taking place every day.

The cathedral’s bells have been pealing in his memory for 10 minutes at midday.

Tutu was for years the emblem of the struggle to end white-minority rule as Nelson Mandela and other leaders languished behind bars.

After apartheid was dismantled and South Africa ushered in its first free elections in 1994, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which exposed the horrors of the past in terrible detail.

He would later speak out fearlessly against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for corruption, incompetence and failures to tackle the country’s AIDS epidemic.

Weakened by advanced age and prostate cancer, Tutu had retired from public life in recent years.

He is survived by his wife, Leah; four children; and several grand and great-grandchildren.

Source: Voice of America