UN chief visits C. Africa tomorrow amid tense security situation
Violence between Christian, Muslim militias intensifies
GENEVA: The head of the World Health Organization on Sunday reversed his decision to name Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador, following widespread uproar.
“Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert Mugabe as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for (Non-communicable diseases) in Africa. As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment,” the head of the UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement.
Tedros, who took charge of WHO in July, said he had “listened carefully” to those who condemned the decision and spoken to the Harare government.
“We have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization.”
Tedros had announced the appointment earlier this week during a speech in Uruguay, where he praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health care to all.”
But activists, public health experts and key WHO donors like Britain, Canada and the US swiftly denounced any prospective role for Mugabe, saying Zimbabwe’s healthcare system has collapsed under his 37 years of authoritarian rule.
Tedros said on Sunday his goal was “to build political leadership and create unity around bringing health to all.”
The WHO boss had faced mounting pressure to reverse the decision, including from some of the leading voices in global public health.
“The Mugabe appointment, coming at the end of (Tedros’s) first 100 days, was a misstep,” the director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard University, Ashish K. Jha, told AFP in an email shortly before the WHO decision was announced.
“Reversing will actually be a strong sign that the leadership listens and is willing to be responsive to views of the global public,” he added.
“This is a gesture of solidarity with the peacekeepers working in one of the most dangerous environments,” Guterres said in an interview with AFP and Radio France Internationale (RFI).
His trip to one of the world’s poorest countries will be his first as part of a peacekeeping mission since taking office on Jan. 1 — but he regularly visited the country as former head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The secretary general’s visit comes at a time when the UN faces a precarious financial situation, as the US pushes for cost-cutting measures in peacekeeping.
The international body has maintained some 12,500 troops and police on the ground in the Central African Republic since September 2014 to help protect civilians and support the government of FaustinArchange Touadera, who was elected last year.
Its mandate expires on Nov. 15, 2017 but is expected to be renewed.
For Guterres — whose visit coincides with “United Nations Day” marking the entry into force of the UN charter — “the level of suffering of the people but also the trauma suffered by aid workers and peacekeepers are deserving of our solidarity and heightened attention.”
One of the world’s poorest nations,
BAGUI: UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres is expected to arrive in the Central African Republic on Tuesday, as violence between Muslim and Christian militias has intensified in the past few months.
the Central African Republic has been struggling to recover from a three-year civil war between the Muslim and Christian militias that started after the 2013 overthrow of leader Francois Bozize.
Between 2013 and 2016, acting under a UN mandate, France intervened militarily to push out the Muslim Seleka rebels and the UN launched its MINUSCA peacekeeping mission in 2014 — but the country remains plagued by violence.
Since May, renewed clashes in the southeast have pitted armed groups against each other as they compete for control of natural resources and areas of influence, while claiming to protect communities.
MINUSCA said Friday that at least 26 people were killed during clashes in the town of Pombolo, while another 11 were wounded.
Since the beginning of the year, 12 aid workers and 12 peacekeepers have also been killed — six peacekeepers alone in Bangassou where Guterres is expected to make a stop.
“He wants to go honor the fallen,” a UN source in Bangui said.
Touadera visited Bangassou earlier this week as well in a bid to reassert authority in the southeastern region — where much of the growing unrest has been concentrated.
Guterres’s trip, just weeks before the likely reappointment of MINUSCA, would also send a strong political message amid criticism of the UN mission.
Accused of “passivity” by critics and sometimes even “collusion” with armed groups, UN troops are also facing an avalanche of sexual abuse and rape allegations.
MINUSCA has been hit with the highest number of rape charges of all UN missions, prompting Guterres earlier this year to agree to the withdrawal of a 600-troop contingent from Congo Republic, which had faced several accusations.
About 120 Congolese peacekeepers were dismissed for similar reasons last year.
Guterres will meet with some of the victims and their families as part of his effort to address the damaging allegations, accompanied by Jane Connors, the first UN advocate for victims’ rights.
The conflict has driven more than 600,000 people from their homes internally while an additional 500,000 have crossed borders to become refugees, according to UN figures.