El Niño threat puts world in “unchartered territory”

Drought and crop failure, unseasonal rainfall and flooding: just some of the conditions brought on by the current El Niño phenomenon. The weather pattern, which is caused by changing interaction between oceanic and atmospheric dynamics, has been felt across the planet, prompting one senior UN official to warn that the world was moving into “unchartered territory.”  And Africa’s been bearing the brunt of it. UN agencies and donor countries have been meeting in New York to try and mitigate its impacts and prevent yet more damage and destruction. Daniel Dickinson reports.

Internally displaced Chadian women. Photo: OCHA/Mayanne Munan

Humanitarian operations continue in the Lake Chad Basin region in Africa where the terrorist group Boko Haram has forced millions to flee their homes. The situation is the fastest growing displacement crisis on the continent, according to the United Nations, which on Tuesday, allocated more than US$30 million to support partners working in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, estimates that 2.7 million people, most of them children, have been affected. Assumpta Massoi has been talking to OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, who’s based in Geneva.

Martin Uhomoibhi after his arrival at the Mission’s headquarters in El Fasher. Photo: UNAMID/Mohamad Almahady.

The new head of the hybrid African Union/United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, has said that he will work hard to bring peace back to Sudan’s most volatile region. Martin Umobi arrived at the operation’s headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur, this week. As Joint Special Representative (JSR), the Nigerian diplomat takes the helm of the second largest UN peacekeeping mission in the world. UNAMID’s 25,000-strong force works to protect millions of people displaced as a result of civil war, more than a decade ago. Jumbe Omari Jumbe reports.

Presenter: Matthew Wells

Production Assistant: Ana Carmo

Duration: 10’00″