By Blessing Chinagorom
The United Nations through its High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has alarmed by the series of attacks by gunmen on multiple rural communities in Plateau State, Nigeria, on Christmas Eve, that left at least 150 people dead and many injured.
This was made known on Thursday from the Office of the Spokesperson for UN Secretary- General on the title: Highlights on United Nations System, asking Nigerian Government to take meaningful steps, address underlying root causes and to ensure non-recurrence of this devastating violence.
The United Nations through the High Commissioner for Human Rights also called on the Nigerian authorities to investigate this incident promptly, thoroughly, independently, consistent with international human rights law, and to hold those responsible to account in fair trials.
It was highlighted further that the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, has warned that Gaza is a public health disaster in making, with infectious diseases spreading fast in overcrowded shelters.
In a social media post, Mr. Griffiths said hospitals are barely functioning and unable to provide care to hundreds of people injured by the ongoing fighting.
As intense Israeli bombardments continue across most of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization says Gaza has 13 partially functioning hospitals, 2 minimally functioning ones, and 21 that are not functioning at all.
“Nine of them are in the south, where they are operating at three times their capacity, while facing critical supply, fuel shortages. In the north, four hospitals providing maternity, trauma and emergency care services, despite a lack of staff and medical supplies, as well as fuel, food and drinking water”.
It said further that only eight of 22 health centres run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) south of Wadi Gaza are still operating. “Nearly 100 UNRWA medical teams continue to treat internally displaced people at shelters.
While the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the intensity of the fighting in Gaza continues to impede ongoing efforts to provide health care and other life-saving assistance to civilians.
Revealing that insecurity, blocked roads, and fuel shortages also hamper humanitarian operations, as do frequent disruptions to telecommunications.
On Sudan: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the spread of the conflict in Sudan is hampering efforts to reach civilians in need, including those newly displaced by fierce fighting in Al-Jazirah State earlier this month.
Adding that over the past two weeks, as many as 300,000 people have fled areas in and around the state capital, Wad Medani. “As they arrive in other states – including Gedaref, Kassala, Red Sea, Sennar and White Nile – and cross over the border into South Sudan, humanitarian organizations are working to provide assistance.
However, there is an urgent need for additional resources, including shelter, food and other basic items, as available stocks are low and the ability to move supplies remains extremely challenging, according to UN highlight.
It stated that in Gedaref State, an estimated 15,000 people have sought shelter with host communities. Humanitarian partners there are scaling up efforts to provide food, water, sanitation, hygiene and health support, as well as protection services, to displaced people as they arrive.
For its part, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday strongly condemned the looting of food supplies from its premises in Al-Jazirah State last weekend after elements of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke into warehouse and office, following their takeover of Wad Medani.
“WFP warehouse contained more than 2,500 metric tons of life-saving food, including pulses, sorghum, vegetable oil and nutrition supplements. Sudan is one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarians to operate.
“Almost 25 million people are estimated to need humanitarian relief in 2024, the majority of them in conflict hotspots – including Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – which are increasingly difficult for aid agencies to reach”, the UN said.