Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo Anadolu Agency

President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday that in the absence of urgent climate change adaptation action, Africa's GDP risks contracting by up to 30% by 2050.

“Evidence indicates that climate change will have a devastating socio-economic impact across the world and quite severely in Africa,” Kenyatta said in a video address to celebrate Africa Adaptation Acceleration Day.

"If we do not take any action Africa could, as a consequence, see its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contract by up to 30 percent by 2050 due to climate change," the President said.

Kenyatta urged the global community to support the accelerated rollout of adaptation programs in Africa to mitigate the growing adverse effects of climate change as well as strengthen the continent's resilience.

He said while it is relatively more difficult to design and implement adaptation projects and with fewer resources currently available for adaptation across the world, “we should not lose sight of the fact that adaptation is, without doubt, smart economics”.

The summit at the University of Nairobi was held in partnership with the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) and is a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland beginning at the end of the month.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also spoke at the hybrid meeting. - Andrew Wasike, Anadolu Agency

The children's charity, Save the Children and partners have scaled up coordinated humanitarian response in South Sudan as floods, conflicts, and persistent economic challenges continue to impact children and the most vulnerable people. 

A press statement from the charity says early seasonal rains have caused rivers to overflow resulting in flooding in large areas and settlements across Jonglei and Unity states which are the hardest hit - representing some 58 percent of the affected people - followed by Upper Nile, Western, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states. 

"Some 100,000 people displaced by the 2020 floods still have not returned home and are sheltering in the Bor, Mangalla, and Mingkaman IDP camps. This has left 8.3 million people, including refugees in need of humanitarian assistance across the country, according to UN OCHA. The weakened health system compounded by multiple shocks, including COVID-19, has also impacted the health and wellbeing of millions - with more children already needing treatment for acute malnutrition in 2021. Furthermore, an estimated 2.8 million children (51% girls) are out of school in 2021, in addition to 98,500 school-aged refugee children, of which 18,000 children are out of school," the statement reads in part. 

Save the Children's South Sudan Country Director Rama Hansraj said:  “These children need immediate child protection services from multiple risks including recruitment by armed groups, psychosocial stress, family separation, violence, abuse and exploitation in 61 most affected counties.” 

The organization said that a needs assessment exercise has revealed that the flood-affected people need food assistance, emergency shelter, and NFIs, WASH services and hygiene kits, health and nutrition supplies and services, protection services and dignity kits, and fishing kits for livelihood support as a matter of urgency. 

“Save the Children aims to provide life-saving and life-sustaining support to 918,500 extremely vulnerable children and 751,500 adults by 31 December 2021,” Hansraj said. 

It says that through a Multi-Year Resilience Programme, Save the Children is also implementing educational programs in schools and youth drop-in centers by working with local authorities, primary, secondary and Alternative Education Services (AES) centers to reach marginalized boys and girls to decrease dropout rates in the six states. 

“We are providing incentives to volunteer teachers, training to volunteer trainers and government education officials, teaching and learning materials to increase enrolment and improved learning outcomes, replacement of teaching-learning supplies, refurbishment of the gender-segregated toilet and water supplies,” Rama Hansraj added. 

“To enhance these efforts, the response overall total of $30 million is required -more than half of which is secured to date," Rama concluded. - Radio Tamazuj

Peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) provide security in Bentiu, South Sudan, June 18, 2017. Photo AP

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN — A United Nations rights commission in South Sudan says the government is harassing activists, journalists and their families, limiting their activities, and targeting their work and finances.

In a statement of "concern" issued this week, the United Nations Commission of Human Rights in South Sudan said the pattern of harassment is impeding the already slow pace of achieving peace among feuding factions and stifling public opinion crucial to achieving democracy.

“Civic space in South Sudan is eroding at the accelerating pace, undermining efforts to achieve a sustainable peace,” said Yasmin Sooka, the commission chairwoman.

The government slammed the statement, with a spokesman saying the commission was spreading untruths,

“This U.N. Human Rights Commission, who is monitoring them?" asked Michael Makuei, South Sudan's information minister. "Who is supervising them? They just sit in their offices here in Juba and they write because they must write something controversial to prove that they are doing their job, so that they continue in their job."

The commission blames government security officers for a continuing crackdown that it says has forced some prominent activists to flee the country.

The commission says those include James David Kolok, a member of the technical committee to conduct a consultative process on truth, reconciliation and healing, and Wani Michael, who has acted as a youth representative on the national constitution amendment committee.

Andrew Clapham, one of the commissioners, said the government’s targeting of high-profile human rights defenders “will have a chilling effect on civil society, and will discourage public participation.”

He said government actions will undermine confidence in the work on transitional justice, framing a constitution, and setting up national elections, which Clapham said are essential to the success of the transition set out by the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement.

The commission says the latest restrictions and acts of harassment began after the creation of the opposition Peoples Coalition for Civil Action in July.

The security clampdown accelerated after a planned nationwide government protest in August fizzled amid what activists say was an intentional internet outage and warnings from security officials of serious consequences against organizers if the demonstration happened.

Since then, some activists say their phone service has been disrupted and bank accounts frozen and journalists say they have been increasingly harassed.

A key parliament member recently said that journalists should be restricted in covering the newly formed parliament.

Agents also detained a government broadcaster after he allegedly declined to report news about recent presidential decrees on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation airwaves.

In addition, three journalists recently were detained and a radio station was closed as the government clamped down on the August protests.

Government spokesman Makuei says the government could not allow the planned protests by the PCCA, which he described as “enemies.” - Waakhe Simon Wudu, Voice of America