UN commiserates with Burundians over Ukurunziza demise

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a two-paragraph statement to commiserate with the government and people of Burundi over the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

The statement is curiously devoid of the usual eulogies for prominent individuals at death.

However, in the statement released on Tuesday, he extended his sympathy to the members of the former president’s family.

He said the UN remained willing to support Burundi in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic, and in its “continuing efforts to create a stable, prosperous and peaceful future for all the country’s citizens”.

Nkurunziza’s death was confirmed by the country’s government on its official Twitter page.

The tweet reads, “The Government of the Republic of Burundi announces with great sadness the unexpected death of His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza, President of the Republic of Burundi, following heart failure on June 8, 2020.”

The deceased was due to be replaced in August by political ally Evariste Ndayishimiye, who won the May 20, 2020, Presidential election.

A statement by the Burundian authority said Nkurunziza had attended a volleyball match on Saturday afternoon and was taken to the hospital that evening after falling ill.

Although he appeared to recover on Sunday and spoke to those around him, his condition suddenly deteriorated on Monday morning.

He then suffered a heart attack and despite an immediate resuscitation attempt, doctors were unable to revive him.

Nkurunziza died at a hospital in Karuzi, eastern Burundi.

The government said there would be a period of national mourning for seven days from Tuesday and that flags would be flown at half-mast.

In May, Burundi expelled the representative of the World Health Organization, WHO amid criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

It has carried out very few coronavirus tests and held large rallies in the lead-up to the country’s May 20 election.

However, the two-paragraph statement by the UN Chief is curiously devoid of the usual eulogies for prominent individuals at death.

Over $182m needed to “sustain lifesaving aid” to poor Nigerians-WFP

World Food Programme, WFP said over 182 million dollars (N68 billion) is needed to “sustain lifesaving aid” to Nigeria over the next six months.

WFP’s senior spokesperson, Ms Elisabeth Byrs, stated this on Tuesday, according to a report by the United Nations.

The report said, “help and funding are needed urgently for millions of people hit severely by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic”.

They include “conflict-hit communities ‘on life-support'” in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.

“We are concerned by conflict-affected communities in northeast Nigeria who already face extreme hunger and who are especially vulnerable.

“They are on life-support and need assistance to survive,” the report quoted Byrs as saying.

The report said that the three so-called BAY states have been plagued by a decade-long insurgency that has spilled over into the Lake Chad region.

It remains among the most severe humanitarian crises in the world, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

The report said about 7.9 million people, mainly women, and children, were in need of urgent assistance in the region.

“That’s why WFP is distributing now two months’ worth of food and nutrition assistance in IDP camps and among vulnerable communities.

“This is to ensure that people have enough food while they are on full or partial lockdown”, Byrs reportedly said.

WFP said needs were also growing nationwide following a sharp drop in international oil prices since the outbreak of the virus.

As of Tuesday, there were 13,464 confirmed cases and 365 deaths from COVID-19 in the country, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.

Byrs said no fewer than 3.8 million people mainly working in the informal sector were on the verge of losing their jobs “amid rising hardship”.

She said the number could rise to 13 million if movement restrictions (inter-state restrictions) continued for a longer period.

“This would add to the almost 20 million (23 percent of the labour force) already out of work.

“In a country where about 90 million people, 46 percent of the population, live on less than two dollars (N752) a day, this is a real concern.

“The urban poor who depend on a daily wage to feed themselves and their families have been very hit by movement restrictions to contain the spread of the virus,” the WFP spokesperson said.