Algeria Renews Its Commitment To Support The Sahel Region Countries

The Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations in New York,  Soufiane Mimouni reiterated Algeria’s commitment to supporting the countries bordering the Sahel, calling on the international community to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of the region.

In his intervention, Thursday, during a meeting on remote communication technology organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on “The humanitarian situation in the Sahel region and challenges related to food security in the context of COVID-19″, Mimouni confirmed the great fragility of the humanitarian situation in the Sahel due to the meeting of several related factors especially in the continuation of conflicts and the threat of terrorism and poverty in addition to the impact of climate change.

He explained that the spread of Covid-19, which affected 2,000 people in the Sahel is a factor that exacerbates the deterioration of the situation in the region, which has been weakened by years of instability.”

Ambassador Mimouni brought the attention of the participants to the levels of concern and food instability in the Sahel region that records about 30 million people in need of food assistance, stating that food security and fighting famine requires strict and effective support for the international community and donors for the benefit of the Sahel countries.

In this context, the ambassador was keen to recall that “Algeria, as a neighbouring country, will remain faithful to the traditions of solidarity and joint action.”

“Our humanitarian assistance, indeed our fraternal duty, and our commitment to the countries neighbouring the Sahel region remain unchanged in these difficult times, and our commitment to respond collectively to the deep causes of instability in the Sahel a well”, he explained.

“In this regard, the Algerian Agency for International Cooperation for Solidarity and Development was created last February to extend a helping hand and help African countries, especially in the Sahel region”, he adds.

On the other hand, Ambassador Mimouni praised the initiatives launched by the United Nations in the humanitarian side to confront this pandemic, especially with the launch of the global humanitarian response plan to confront the COVID19, calling on donors to show solidarity by ensuring adequate funding for these initiatives that would allow different bodies and actors to provide support to vulnerable countries and groups.

The same official also expressed Algeria’s support for the Secretary-General’s call for an immediate ceasefire, and this is aimed at allowing countries in conflict and various humanitarian actors to limit the spread of this pandemic.

Finally, the Permanent Representative of Algeria revealed his desire to adopt a comprehensive and coordinated approach by the international community that would allow the countries of the Sahel to fully comply with the United Nations contract and to achieve the sustainable development goals within 2030, without marginalizing any party.