Africa Dialogue, Myanmar, Syria & other topics - Daily Briefing (26 May 2021)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
- Africa Dialogue
- Myanmar
- Syria
- Yemen
- Sudan
- Mali
- Libya
- Migrants/Central Mediterranean Sea
- DRC – Mount Nyiragongo
- South Asia/Cyclone
- COVID-19/Indonesia
- Vesak Day
- UN Conference on Trade and Development
- Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Virtual Briefings Tomorrow
- Financial Contribution

AFRICA DIALOGUE
Speaking at the Public Policy Forum of this year’s Africa Dialogue Series, on the theme of “Cultural identity and ownership”, the Secretary-General said it is a call for using the continent’s rich and diverse cultural and natural heritage as a catalyst for Africa’s growth and transformation.  
With spreading hatred and intolerance around the world, we must not only defend diversity but invest in it, he added.
But, for that to be possible, the Secretary-General called for solidarity with the African continent to recover from the pandemic. He renewed his appeal for vaccine equity, saying it is unacceptable that vaccines are not yet fully available on the African continent.
Mr. Guterres went on to reiterate the importance for Africa to receive the financial support needed to protect its citizens and to be able to relaunch the continent’s economies.     

MYANMAR
In Myanmar, the UN Country Team continues to call upon the military to ensure the protection of civilians as widespread and systematic breaches of human rights continue, including extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention, torture and ill treatment, as well as enforced disappearance.
UN colleagues on the ground say that, over the past 115 days, at least 824 civilians, many of them women and children, have been killed since the military seized control, while thousands more have been injured.
At the same time, 4,301 people remain in detention, including politicians, authors, human rights defenders, teachers, healthcare workers, civil servants, journalists, monks, celebrities and just ordinary citizens.

SYRIA
The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, briefed the Security Council this morning by videoconference. He said that elections being held today in Syria are not part of the political process called for by Security Council resolution 2254. The UN is not involved in the election and has no mandate to be involved, he added.
He said that the broad contours of a political solution to the conflict are well understood by key stakeholders, yet none is willing to take the first step. If we continue like this, he warned, Syria will become another protracted conflict, lasting generations.
Despite the many catastrophes Syria faces, the Special Envoy added, it is relatively calmer on the ground than in previous years. And there is a shared sense that no one can dictate the conflict’s final outcome.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, also briefed the Council, saying that the UN has not been able to deliver aid to Rukban since September 2019, nor have we been able to conduct any assessments. He noted that the Security Council authorization for UN cross-border assistance into the north-west expires in just over six weeks. A failure to extend it would immediately end direct cross-border deliveries by the UN.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/conte....nt/noon-briefing-hig