Interviews

A timetable for the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fully withdraw, has yet to be agreed with the Government there, but constructive negotiations are continuing, MONUSCO chief Bintou Keita has told UN News, in an in-depth interview. Jerome Bernard, of our UN News French service, began by asking her what the minimum conditions would be for MONUSCO to responsibly leave DRC.

The illegal cocaine trade has bounced back following COVID-19 lockdowns, with coca cultivation up by more than a third from 2020 to 2021, according to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Speaking to UN News, UNODC’s chief analyst for the Global Report on Cocaine 2023, said new routes and networks had emerged, with global supply now at record levels.

Brazil has emerged as a major hub, and there’s concern demand is rising fast in West Africa and Asia, as Ms. Me told Pauline Batista.

As if the situation wasn’t bad enough for people facing starvation in the Greater Horn of Africa region, now UN humanitarians have warned that they’re in the grip of surging disease, linked to malnutrition.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, have been particularly affected.

All seven countries are battling measles outbreaks, four have reported cholera outbreaks and malaria is a serious threat in Sudan.

As South Sudan prepares for elections in 2024, the world’s youngest nation sits at a fork in the road. Progress towards a lasting peace include the need to hold fair elections, open civic spaces, and improved security. It also means having an inclusive constitution built for all. But, right now, stark choices must be made, and 2023 is a “make or break” year, as Nicholas Haysom, who heads the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), tells UN News’s Eileen Travers.

Survivors of decades of conflict in the Horn of Africa have told the UN how hunger and drought have finally uprooted them from their homes. To help 3.3 million people who’ve been displaced in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, issued an urgent appeal this week for $137 million. UN News's Daniel Johnson spoke to the agency’s Olga Sarrado.