GENEVA: The World Health Organization is releasing $2 million from its emergency fund to support the victims of floods in eastern Libya, WHO’s director general said on Thursday.
“Even while the death toll is increasing, the health needs of the survivors are becoming more urgent,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “WHO is releasing $2 million from our emergency contingency fund to support our response.”
Tedros, who described the floods as a “calamity of epic proportions,” said WHO was deploying contingency supplies which were already in Libya, as well as sending trauma, surgical and emergency supplies from its logistics hub in Dubai.
Rescue work has been hindered by the political fractures in the country of 7 million people, which has been war on-and-off and lacked a government with nationwide reach since a NATO-backed uprising toppled Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
An internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) is based in Tripoli, in the west. A parallel administration operates in the east, under control of the Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar.
WHO releasing $2m from emergency fund for Libya flood victims
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WHO releasing $2m from emergency fund for Libya flood victims
- “Even while the death toll is increasing, the health needs of the survivors are becoming more urgent,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
- “WHO is releasing $2 million from our emergency contingency fund to support our response”
UN chief appoints Finland’s Haavisto as personal envoy for Sudan
- Former Finnish FM has extensive experience in mediation in the Horn of Africa and Middle East
- Haavisto was Finland’s minister of foreign affairs from 2019-23
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Pekka Haavisto, the former Finnish foreign minister, as his personal envoy for Sudan, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Haavisto succeeds Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria and brings more than 40 years of experience in politics and international affairs to the role, having previously held ministerial positions in Finland’s government as well as senior positions with the EU and UN. He is currently a member of the Finnish parliament.
Haavisto was Finland’s minister of foreign affairs from 2019-23. From 2016-19, he was president of the European Institute of Peace. He has also held the ministerial portfolios of development cooperation, state ownership, and the environment. Haavisto was elected to the Finnish parliament in 1987.
The new personal envoy has broad experience in mediation and negotiation processes in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, and has worked extensively with the UN, said Dujarric.
From 2009-17, he was special representative to the Finnish foreign minister for mediation and crisis management in Africa. Between 2005 and 2007, Haavisto was the EU special representative for Sudan, where he took part in the Darfur peace negotiations. During that period, he also acted as a UN senior adviser to the Darfur peace process.
Haavisto worked for the UN Environment Programme from 1999 to 2005, including assignments in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Liberia, and Sudan.
Asked why Lamamra had stepped down, Dujarric said that it was a “joint decision” between the Algerian envoy and the secretary-general.
