UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 15 — The United Nations persists in delivering aid to Niger, three weeks following President Mohamed Bazoum’s detention by his own guards, a UN spokesman said on Monday.
Agencies continue to reach people despite the challenges, including the ongoing rainy season, Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York on Monday.
Approximately 4.3 million individuals in the West African nation depend on humanitarian assistance.
Just last week, in the central Maradi region, 22,000 residents received both cash support and food supplies.
“We and our humanitarian partners are also working with de facto authorities to identify and prepare a site to accommodate about 13,000 internally displaced people in Ouro Gueladjo, in the Tillaberi region,” Dujarric said.
He noted that these individuals were displaced from various villages in mid-July, prior to the ongoing political turmoil.
The UN and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have denounced the attempted coup against Bazoum.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with other high-ranking UN representatives, has consistently advocated for the restoration of the democratically chosen leader, who is currently under house arrest.
Last week, both Guterres and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, voiced concern following reports that the President and his family were living without electricity, water, food or medicine.
“Those responsible for the detention of the President must ensure the full respect and protection of his human rights, and of all others being held,” Turk said on Friday.
The Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, representing the secretary-general, has further cautioned that the region’s security scenario might deteriorate if the political unrest in Niger remains unresolved.
The UN is backing ECOWAS’s mediation initiatives aimed at re-establishing constitutional governance in Niger.
At a recent assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, the regional assembly mandated the swift deployment of its intervention brigade.
Following its special summit convened in Abuja shortly after the onset of the crisis, regional leaders released a communiqué demanding Bazoum’s reinstatement within a week of their gathering.
On Monday, global news outlets reported that the interim leaders of Niger intend to charge the president with high treason and jeopardise both internal and external security. (Xinhua)
