This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

UN’s Bachelet welcomes crimes of humanity verdict against Syrian officer

The guilty verdict against a Syrian intelligence official adjudged to have been behind torture and killings of detainees during the country’s ongoing civil war, has been widely welcomed by the UN’s human rights system.

High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet hailed the “historic” conviction of the 58-year-old defendant, identified only as Anwar R, by a German court in Koblenz on Thursday.

He was convicted of crimes against humanity for killings, torture, serious deprivation of liberty, rape, sexual assault and hostage-taking.

“No matter where you are or how senior you may be, if you perpetrate torture or other serious human rights violations, you will be held accountable sooner or later, at home or abroad,” the UN rights chief said, describing the development as a “landmark leap forward in the pursuit of truth, justice and reparations” for violations perpetrated in Syria over more than a decade.

Africa’s fourth pandemic wave flattens out after six-week surge

After a six-week surge, Africa’s fourth pandemic wave - that’s been mainly driven by the Omicron variant - is flattening, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

The WHO said that this marked the shortest surge since the pandemic began on the continent, where total cases have exceeded 10.2 million.

Recorded cases of infection show that the weekly number plateaued in the seven days leading up to 9 January from the previous week.

Southern Africa saw a huge increase in infections during the Omicron wave but recorded a 14 per cent decline in confirmed cases over the past week.

And South Africa, where Omicron was first reported, saw a nine per cent fall in weekly infections.

East and Central Africa regions also experienced falling numbers of cases, but North and West Africa are seeing a rise, with North Africa reporting a 121 per cent increase this past week, compared with the previous seven days.

Tigray: WHO chief Tedros decries blocked aid tactics

Head of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has spoken out over continuing blockades on lifesaving humanitarian access to Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Tedros said that despite the best efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been prevented from sending medicine for basic lifesaving procedures:

“We have tried all our best, but we are blocked from sending medicines to Tigray, Ethiopia. And that's so dreadful and unimaginable during this time of the 21st century, when a government is denying its own people, for more than a year, food and medicine and the rest to survive.”

It is now more than 14 months since conflict erupted between Ethiopian federal troops and those loyal to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.

Tigray has been under siege for more than a year, Tedros told journalists from Geneva, before noting that WHO teams have been allowed to send medicines to Afar and Amhara regions.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.