News headlines in 2021, page 129

A weaving project is helping to close the decades-long divide between the two communities in Cyprus, with assistance from the UN mission in the country, UNFICYP. 

ROME, Aug 06 (IPS) - “We have buried twenty-eight people. I have seen them with my own eyes. We also found three bodies in the fields and buried them too. I can show them to you. It’s not far from here. We buried them there.” The man points to the hills. He doesn’t want to show his face or say his name, but he agrees that his voice can be recorded, so that his words don’t get lost. The camera can’t shoot him; it can only look at the tall grass or at the forest towards the countryside where it is no longer possible to cultivate food. The man talks while music from Lengabo’s catholic church marks the time of truce and hope.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said on Friday that escalating hostilities over the past two days involving Lebanese and Israeli forces have created “a very dangerous situation” in the volatile border region.

St David’s, Wales, Aug 06 (IPS) - A recent seizure at Johannesburg’s international airport of a large consignment of rhino horns confirmed worst fears – illegal trafficking of wildlife and the plundering of treasured species is back with a vengeance after a Covid-19 lockdown lull.

With the war in Afghanistan now in “a new, deadlier, and more destructive phase”, the top UN official in the country appealed on Friday for the Security Council to act to avert a catastrophe. 

A ceasefire in Tigray on humanitarian grounds is needed now more than ever if a massive aid operation across frontlines is to succeed, the UN’s emergency relief chief said on Friday.

Rapidly spreading violence in Mali is threatening the State’s very survival, the UN independent expert on the human rights situation in the country said on Friday. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday that it is facing a 70 per cent funding shortfall in Myanmar, where millions face growing food insecurity.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 06 (IPS) - Gilbert Bor manages a small farm in the western highlands of Kenya. Landscapes are hilly, village roads lined with pine trees, his cows mostly of the Friesian breed. He is up at 6:00am daily to lead his animals through the woods into the valley below.

The situation for people who have been displaced due to an upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan following the resurgence of the Taliban is expected to continue to deteriorate, unless more is done to assist them, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).