Civilians in Bamako, Mali (Source: xinhua/VNA)New York (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the VietnameseMission to the UN, voiced concerns over recent terror attacks which have causeda large number of fatalities in the Sahel while addressing a UN SecurityCouncil session on the African region’s situation on June 5.
Quy expressed Vietnam’s backing for a comprehensive approachin terms of security, humanity and sustainable development for regional countries.
He emphasised the necessity and obligation to protectcivilians, especially women and children, and called for more plans to addresschallenges on security, climate change and humanity as well as intensifying the COVID-19 fight.
Speaking at the event, UN Under-Secretary-General for PeaceOperations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that the COVID-19 is complicating analready complex security situation in the Sahel, with terrorist groups capitalising on the pandemic as they step up attacks on national and internationalforces.
He expressed concerns over increasing terror attackstargeting civilians and security and peacekeeping forces there.
In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, around 4,000 people werekilled by terrorists in 2019, a surge compared with the 700 deaths in 2016.
Poverty, low economic growth, natural resources-relatedconflicts among communities and climate change are also challenging the Sahelregion.
The UN called for the international community, governmentsand regional organisations in West Africa and the Sahel to intensify solidarityto fight terrorism and extreme violence, and emphasised the need for acomprehensive approach to solve challenges related to security, humanity anddevelopment in the Sahel, especially in Mali./.
VNA
