SG/A/1404
AFR/2620
*BIO/4471

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Mr. Koenders has served as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) since October 2011.

This document provides complex coverage of global events from 07 – 13 May 2013 with hyperlinks to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in the region, contact the members of the Complex Coverage Team or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Iraq 1
Mali 2
Syria 3
IED/Demining 5

Geneva/Niamey (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is purchasing approximately 8,000 head of cattle from herdsmen in the Tillabery and Agadez areas (in the west and north of the country, respectively) to support communities made vulnerable by the combined effects of climate and of conflict in Mali and Libya..

Austria provides aid at International Donor Conference for Mali

16 mai 2013 – Le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD) a salué les promesses de dons de 3,25 milliards d'euros pour financer le plan d'une relance durable du Mali et l'aider à sortir de la crise.

Ce document comprend trois parties pouvant être utilisées ensemble ou séparément. L'objectif visé par ce découpage est double:

• permettre de décliner aisément des documents destinés à des publics différents notamment lors de la future phase de sensibilisation qui doit aboutir à son adoption ; éviter une approche trop pointue, notamment en ce qui concerne certains aspects statistiques que peuvent << rebuter >> ou lasser une partie du public destinataire.

BRUSSELS, May 16 2013 (IPS) - International donors pledged yesterday to mobilise 3.25 billion Euros to rebuild Mali, a figure that surpassed all expectations. But experts warn that the country does not have the absorption capacity for so much aid, while others say donors should pressure the Malian government to stop ongoing human rights abuses.

In January of this year, a French-led intervention ended more than a year of sectarian violence in the north of Mali. The intervention managed to stall the conflict, but the situation in the region remains tense.

One year after the food crisis and the takeover of northern territories of the country by armed groups in Mali, the humanitarian situation is critical and its effects are making themselves felt throughout the region. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been in the country for 35 years, and has had to adapt to these successive crises. Since mid-February 2013, Lucas Riegger, a member of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit, has been providing support for the activities of the SDC’s Cooperation Office (Coof).

In the context of the donor conference for Mali taking place in Brussels today, Minister for Development Cooperation Jean-Pascal Labille stated that Belgium would actively support the recovery process in Mali. To this end, Belgium will provide a financial contribution of EUR 17.3 million in 2013 and EUR 14.2 million in 2014.

For Jean-Pascal Labille, this support illustrates our country’s solidarity with the Malian people, who are currently experiencing a very dark time in their country’s history.