The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the government of Kenya, recently hosted the fourth Ministerial Council meeting of the LAPSSET Corridor program. The theme of the meeting was “Unleashing Potential: The LAPSSET Corridor as a Catalyst for Sustainable Development, Seamless Connectivity, Regional Integration, and Trade.” The event took place in Lamu County, Kenya on 21-22 August 2024 and was attended by government officials, representatives from Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan, development partners, and business leaders.

The LAPSSET Corridor program in Eastern Africa promotes trade and cultural exchange, with Lamu playing a key role. The Joint Technical Committee (JTC plans to finalize a regional coordination mechanism by September to maximize corridor benefits in partner states.

Mr. Isati Mame, the Governor of Lamu, extended a warm welcome to government officials, delegates, stakeholders, and all participants in the region. He emphasized the LAPSSET Corridor project as a comprehensive infrastructure network, describing it as a bold and visionary initiative with the potential to transform the economic and social landscape of Eastern Africa. Mr. Mame emphasized inclusive, sustainable development, promoting environmental protection, community rights, and equitable growth.

A group of experts attending the 46th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) meeting for Least Developed Countries concluded with a call to accelerate efforts on adaptation and resilience.  Held from 19-22 August in Addis Ababa, The Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) lauded the host country, Ethiopia, for its Green Legacy Initiative, which has embedded reforestation and landscape restoration in its climate change and ecosystems protection plan.

The meeting was organized by the UNFCCC secretariat and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Planning in partnership with the African Climate Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Established under the UNFCCC in 2001, the primary responsibility of the Experts Group is to assist the least developed countries (LDCs) to address climate change with a focus on effective means of adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change. Top on the agenda of the group’s deliberations are ways to assist all the LDCs to have in place their national adaptation plans (NAPs), and pathways to access funding and other support to implement agreed adaptation priorities.

The U.N. World Food Program is investigating two of its top officials in Sudan over allegations including fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid to civilians amid the nation’s dire hunger crisis, according to 11 people with knowledge of the probe. The investigation by the WFP’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) comes as the U.N.’s food-aid arm is struggling to feed millions of people in war-plagued Sudan, now suffering one of the world’s most severe food shortages in years. As part of the probe, investigators are looking at whether WFP staff sought to hide the alleged role of Sudan’s army in obstructing aid amid a brutal 16-month war with a rival paramilitary for control of the country, according to five of the sources who spoke to Reuters…More than half a dozen humanitarians and diplomats told Reuters they are worried that mismanagement at the heart of the WFP’s Sudan office could have contributed to the failure so far to deliver enough aid during the war. (Reuters)