Interviews

A Holocaust survivor and former playmate of one of history’s most tragic figures has a message for the world about genocide: “We haven’t really learned.”

Eva Schloss was a neighbour of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl whose famous diary detailed her family’s life in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War.

Ms Schloss was just 13 when her own family of four was also forced into hiding in Amsterdam.

Close to 400,000 civilians continue to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta, said the UN on Monday.

Fighting has intensified and humanitarian agencies have not been able to provide lifesaving food or medical supplies, since 28^th of November.

The UN continues to call for a ceasefire to allow aid to flow in, as well as access to evacuate the critically-ill.

More than 20 countries still have laws in place which discriminate against persons affected by the disease Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease.

That’s according to Alice Cruz, the UN independent expert against discrimination for those affected, and their family members.

Leprosy is caused by a bacterial infection which multiplies slowly, affecting nerve endings and destroying the body’s ability to feel pain.

The Nigerian government launched a mass vaccination campaign in alliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, to immunize more than 25 million people before the end of this year.

This drive is part of a global effort to eliminate the risk of yellow fever epidemics by 2026, which should be possible if 90 per cent of the population can be reached.

The Yellow fever virus is mosquito-borne, and the disease can cause jaundice due to liver damage.

A new report released on Wednesday by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), states that the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are recording impressive progress towards increasing access to information and communication technologies.

All 47 LDCs have launched so-called 3G wireless mobile services, and over 60 percent of their population is now covered by a 3G network.

Al Shabbab terrorists continue to undermine security across Somalia as the government tries to build up its institutions and make the country more economically self-sufficient.

That’s according to the head of the UN Assistance Mission there (UNSOM), Michael Keating, who spelled out that “a multi-dimensional effort to build an accountable, affordable State” is well underway.

Peacekeepers need better training, more technology and greater freedom to respond to the threat posed by “criminal” groups who are responsible for an uptick in fatalities in recent years.

Armed groups fighting in the north of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been given 48 hours to withdraw in order to allow villagers displaced by violence to return home.

The UN wants to clear a 50-kilometer perimeter around the town of Paoua, where thousands are currently seeking shelter.

Some 60,000 people — mostly women — left everything behind in nearby villages, to escape fighting between three armed groups last month, and around 40,000 residents of Paoua, took them in.

Now the food and water is running out.

Around 120 critically-ill children trapped in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta, in Syria, are in urgent need of evacuation, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF Representative in the country, Fran Equiza, said in an interview with UN News on Wednesday, that humanitarian access continues to be limited, with at least 12 per cent of children under-5 acutely malnourished.

Ancient rock shelters that are home to some of the oldest cave paintings in Africa, have “enormous” potential to help bring thousands more tourists to Somalia and ‘Somaliland’.

That’s according to the top envoy who heads the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), Michael Keating.

Standing inside the extraordinary cave formations of Laas Gaal, on the outskirts of Hargeisa, he pointed to some of the cave art — dating back thousands of years — describing it as a valuable “resource for the whole world”.