UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva the agency and its partners have already delivered learning materials for over 90,000 students, and during the coming school year, 9,000 teachers will receive training and temporary learning spaces will be set up, while schools are refurbished or repaired.

Since January 2012, a rebellion of ethnic Tuareg groups followed by an insurgency of Islamist extremists displaced hundreds of thousands in Mali and prompted the Government to request assistance from France to halt the southward march of the extremists.

The conflict caused a dire humanitarian crisis affecting many areas in the north, including Gao and Bourem, where the rate of global acute malnutrition stands at 13.5 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, making it a “serious” nutrition situation according to UN classification.

The conflict also destroyed or damaged around 200 schools. Many reopened earlier this year, and classrooms in Gao and Timbuktu were packed with students, who in many cases, sat on the floor because there was no furniture. In the south, already overcrowded classrooms saw an influx of about 75,000 displaced students.

Ms. Mercado added that while the agency plans to scale up its operations, funding is still a constraint, with just 27 per cent of the $12 million sought for emergency education received so far this year.

Ahead of the presidential run-off, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has assisted national electoral authorities in getting materials out to remote areas in the north. The UN spokesperson in New York, Farhan Haq, said that MINUSMA is “deploying sensitive materials to Timbuktu, Gao, Kidal and Mopti for the second round of presidential elections.”

As it did in the first round of voting on 28 July, the peacekeeping mission will also support the Malian Defence and Security Forces in implementing the security plan for the elections.

Haq said MINUSMA also organized a flight to Néma, Mauritania, to ensure that Malian refugees living in camps there could obtain a voter card. The move is part of UN efforts to increase the number of refugees who are able to vote, he noted.

The first round of the elections was seen as an important step on the path to recovery for Mali, which, since early 2012, witnessed a military coup d’état, renewed fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, and the seizure of its northern territory by radical Islamists.

In a statement ahead of the July ballot, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had noted the importance of the election for the restoration of constitutional order and national dialogue and reconciliation in the country.

He had also cited the need to ensure that any post-election disputes are resolved through peaceful and legal means.

A nutrition and mortality survey carried out by Mali’s Ministry of Health and its partners, including UNICEF, found that the rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) is 13.5 per cent making it a “serious” nutrition situation according to UN classification.

The situation is even more worrying in the Bourem health district, where the rate of GAM is 17 per cent, exceeding the emergency threshold of 15 per cent set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

During the next six months, 22,730 children will be at risk for acute malnutrition, UNICEF warned in a news release.

“The nutrition situation in Gao deserves special attention. Action must be taken now so that children who can be saved are not left to die and so that new cases can be prevented,” David Gressly, the Humanitarian Action Coordinator for Mali, said during a visit to Gao yesterday.

Gao was among the areas affected by the fighting that broke out last year in northern Mali between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which radical Islamists seized control of the area. The crisis uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to a dire humanitarian crisis.

UNICEF pointed out that the high malnutrition rates are explained, in part, by the fact that the survey was conducted in May 2013, at the start of the hunger gap season when food supplies run out.

Also, the spike in malaria during the rainy reason has had an impact on children’s nutritional status. The negative impact of the recent conflict on populations’ financial wherewithal is another factor contributing to the severity of the situation, the agency said.

“The lives of many children are in jeopardy. They need immediate assistance,” said Françoise Ackermans, UNICEF Representative in Mali. “Treating children suffering from severe acute malnutrition is a priority for UNICEF. We are sparing no effort to assist each child suffering from malnutrition,” she added.

This year, more than 108,000 children under age five were admitted to nutrition rehabilitation units around the country with the assistance of the Government, UNICEF and humanitarian partners.

The nutrition survey will be conducted next in Timbuktu, in northern Mali, and is already underway in the south of the country. Results will allow for nutrition trends to be assessed to better evaluate needs and prioritize resource allocation.

UNICEF stated that $80 million is needed to meet nutritional needs throughout the country. To date, only a quarter of this funding has been secured. As of 22 July, the Consolidated Appeal for Mali has mobilized $142 million, 30 per cent of the $476 million sought.

“During this time, household food stocks are expected to dwindle and food prices to rise,” Alex Brecher-Doliver, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) told the UN News Centre from Bamako, Mali’s capital and largest city.

For the past few weeks, he has travelled between Bamako, Mopti and Segou, in the south to the areas in the north most affected by the crisis last year, including Timbuktu.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to halt the southward march of the extremist groups.

With the Islamist occupation reversed by subsequent actions, the UN recently set up its newest integrated peacekeeping mission in the country – MINUSMA– to consolidate stability and create the conditions for provision of humanitarian aid.

More than 4.3 million people are now in need of such aid, with nearly1.4 million requiring immediate food assistance in the north, according to WFP figures. Some 110 children die every day, a third from malnutrition.

The UN has access to areas in the north, but the situation remains “tight,” Brecher-Dolivet said. “Humanitarian access in the north remains unpredictable,” he commented.

“Many markets are functioning, at least partially, but cash is a problem.” Few banks in the country are open,” he added.

“There is electricity in the main cities, often only between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.,” Mr. Brecher-Dolivet said. “Even though some gas stations are not functional yet, fuel can be found. Often of poor quality, though.”

“More and more stores are open, and Government offices in light of the upcoming presidential election,” he added, speaking of the scheduled 28 July vote.

Asked what was available in stores, he said “mainly cereals – rice, millet, sorghum – bread, sugar and oil.”

Even before the conflict, the food security situation in Mali was precarious. The West African country is at the heart of the Sahel region whose sliver stretches across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. Access to food in the Sahel is hampered by high poverty, extreme weather, environmental degradation, low investment in agriculture, high prices and vulnerability to market volatility.

The humanitarian community has appealed for $1.7 billion to help millions in need this year in the region, which is still reeling from the crisis that affected some 18 million people in 2012. This year’s appeal is less than 40 per cent funded.

Travelling in the country, Mr. Brecher-Dolivet sees people farming – the rainy season has now started, the time when people plant crops, such as the grain grass sorghum.

Cattle breeding is also practiced in Mali, so it is common to see sheep, goats, cows and donkeys standing around staring back at you, he added.

Last month, WFP and its partner, the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) in southern Mali started providing food assistance to displaced people and host families. Beneficiaries will for the first time receive cash transfers instead of food. Increasingly popular, the cash transfers empower families to decide themselves what food to buy, and to purchase it locally, spurring local markets.

Similar programs are due to be launched next month in Mopti, and in Timbuktu and Gao, if security allows.

In other parts of the north, WFP is extending its emergency school feeding program to some 300 schools. There is also a work-for-food programme in projects near Timbuktu to rehabilitate irrigation plots, along with supplementary feeding activities for new mothers and their infants.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania host some 175,000 Malian refugees who fled the recent conflict there. Refugees eligible to vote in exile are people already registered in the Malian Administrative Civil Status Census, conducted in 2010.

“UNHCR is supporting the participation of refugees in these elections, although our role is limited to a strictly humanitarian and non-political one,” UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva. “We are providing refugees with practical information on their right to participate in the elections and we are also providing some transportation.”

In Burkina Faso, UNHCR has launched awareness campaigns in all refugee camps as well as spontaneous refugee sites, and in urban settings with concentrations of refugees.

“We are letting people know that personal information and data held by UNHCR is not being shared with the Malian Government, and advising on steps to take should people come under pressure from any person or party involved in the election,” Mr. Edwards said.

Of almost 50,000 refugees in Burkina Faso, more than 18,400 are of voting age, and over the past four days, 10 teams deployed by the Malian Embassy and supported by UNHCR have started registering refugees to vote. The process is monitored by Burkina Faso’s national refugee commission.

Mr. Edwards said registration numbers have picked up in the past few days, and added that the names of registered voters will be sent to authorities in the Bamako, the Malian capital, so that electoral cards can be sent to Burkina Faso and distributed to refugees.

Similar arrangements are in place in Niger and Mauritania, which host some 50,000 and 75,000 refugees, respectively.

UNHCR previously facilitated out-of-country voting by refugees in South Sudan in 2011, in Iraq in 2010 and in Afghanistan in 2004.

“The success of these activities will depend on key confidence building and assistance to put Mali on the path of stability,” said Bert Koenders (photo), the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Mali and head of the new UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Briefing the Security Council by video-link from the Malian capital, Bamako, Mr. Koenders updated the 15-member body on the security situation, the mediation and national reconciliation process, the preparations for the 28 July presidential elections; and the humanitarian and human rights situations.

He also called on Member States to fully support the UN mission and contribute “critical and immediate” resources, military and police personnel, and key enablers.

The transfer of responsibility from the African-led mission, known as AFISMA, to MINUSMA is expected to take place on 1 July, when the bulk of the military units in the former will be ‘re-hatted’ and transferred to the latter.

The new mission, set up by the Council in April, is tasked with supporting the political process in Mali, which is recovering from a conflict between Government forces and Tuareg rebels that uprooted hundreds of thousands of people since January 2012.

The Council has also authorized MINUSMA “to use all necessary means” to carry out security-related stabilization tasks, protect civilians, UN staff and cultural artefacts, and create the conditions for the provision of humanitarian aid.

“There was unanimous agreement by Security Council members that we should move to the next phase of Mali’s recovery with the deployment of MINUSMA from the 1st of July, which in the initial stages, obviously will mean a re-hatting of most of the AFISMA troops,” Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom, which holds the Council’s presidency for this month, told reporters after the meeting.

In his recent report to the Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote that there remain “many challenges” to a smooth transition from AFISMA to MINUSMA. “The initial focus will be on maintaining seamless continuity between the two operations to preserve the security gains made to date and avoid creating any vacuums,” he stated.

Echoing his comments, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told the Council that the UN is still seeking pledges for important outstanding capabilities, including helicopters, intelligence, information operations and special forces.

“We count on the continued support of both our traditional and new troop-contributing countries to help us fill these critical shortfalls,” said Mr. Ladsous, who added that the UN is deploying a mission in a new geopolitical context with asymmetric threats not previously encountered in a UN peacekeeping environment.

Among the “unique challenges” facing the mission, he cited the harsh climate, state of infrastructure and vastness of the geographic area of responsibility.

Briefing the Council on the ongoing efforts to set up the mission, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Ameerah Haq said that despite “formidable” constraints, the UN is on track to meet requirements for the MINUSMA’s deployment.

Yet, she acknowledged that MINUSMA is “one of the most logistically challenging missions the United Nations has ever launched.” Among others, she drew attention to the “harsh” climatic conditions in northern Mali, where most of the mission’s operations will be located. The temperature in Timbuktu, for example, regularly reaches 48 degrees Celsius, or 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

“All information and communications technology, vehicles, refrigeration, and tentage that is ultimately used in Mali will be exposed to climatic conditions that accelerate their decay,” she explained.

“We already know that certain technological options are out of the question: for example, we are unable to deploy our mobile communications system to Kidal because its sensitive components will melt.”

Ms. Haq also noted that water availability is limited, particularly in the arid north; the airfields in the north are unable to service large aircraft; road infrastructure in the north is “spotty;” and there are still armed groups who have sworn to oppose – and attack – the UN.

“In Mali, neither the challenges nor the risks at hand should be underestimated. Much is beyond our control,” she stated. “But our efforts to date, and the results achieved by MINUSMA thus far suggest that, with commitment, vision and the continued support of Member States, we just may be able to beat the odds.”

In his meeting with Mali’s Foreign Minister, Tiéman Coulibaly, Mr. Ban encouraged the authorities to continue efforts to ensure a favourable political environment for the conduct of the 28 July polls, and pledged UN support for the national dialogue process that will take place following the elections.

The briefing Mali: Preliminary findings of a four-week mission. Serious human rights abuses, issued in the run-up to the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in Mali next month, is the result of a research mission carried out in May and June in the country.

“The Malian security forces’ human rights record since January is, simply, appalling. They continue to violate human rights with apparently no fear of being held accountable,” said Gaëtan Mootoo, Amnesty International researcher and member of this research mission.

During the visit, Amnesty International documented dozens of cases of detainees being tortured or ill-treated after being arrested for having alleged links with armed groups. The organization also documented more than 20 cases of extrajudicial-executions or enforced disappearances.

Mohamed Lemine and Mohamed Tidjani were arrested by the Malian security forces on 28 January this year, the day the French and Malian armies entered the city of Timbuktu.

Their bodies were found a few days later and a relative told Amnesty International: “Both wore the same clothes and shoes they had on the day of their arrest, Mohamed Lemine had a white boubou [robe] and black pants while his friend was wearing a boubou. We preferred not to displace the bodies and recovered the tomb with sand.”

Amnesty International’s delegates were able to speak to more than 80 of the 200 detainees held in the capital Bamako, most of them charged with acts of terrorism and other offences.

Many of them said they were tortured or ill-treated and some were reportedly denied medical treatment. A number of them had marks and scars of burnings and cuts – including on their backs, chests and ears.

At least five detainees died in the facility in April 2013, most of them apparently as a result of the appalling conditions of detention and lack of medical care.

When Amnesty International visited the detention center, several child soldiers, some as young as 13 years old, were being held with adults.

The authorities in Mali recognized that some human rights violations had been committed and said a number of cases were being investigated, but so far no one has been brought to justice.

“Ensuring that all those responsible for human rights abuses face justice will not be an easy task but it’s the key to a lasting stabilization and rebirth of a country torn apart for more than 18 months,” said Mootoo.

The organization is also concerned that French military, as well as West African (AFISMA) troops – including forces from Chad and Niger – handed over prisoners to the Malian authorities when they knew or should have known the detainees were at real risk of being tortured or ill-treated.

During the mission, Amnesty International’s delegates also collected testimonies of abductions and arbitrary killings committed by the armed opposition group Mouvement pour l’unicité du djihad en Afrique de l’ouest (MUJAO, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) against civilians accused of supporting the French and Malian armies.

Armed opposition groups, including MUJAO and the Tuareg Mouvement national de libération de l’Azawad (MNLA, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) were also accused of sexually abusing women and girls and using children to carry weapons, control checkpoints and cook. Some children were also sent to the front line.

“In the run up to the deployment of the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali, it is essential to ensure that the Malian army and any other armed forces respect and protect human rights so people living in the north of the country can be reassured they will be safe,” said Mootoo.

Gao was among the areas affected by the fighting that broke out last year in northern Mali between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which radical Islamists seized control of the area. The crisis uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to a dire humanitarian crisis.

A recent inter-agency mission to Gao, led by UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Mali Aurélien Agbénonci, found that rehabilitating the water supply is imperative to urgently assist the population of some 70,000 people in the city, as is increasing food assistance.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva that the amount of drinking water available to people has fallen 60 per cent over the past weeks.

There was food distribution ongoing to about a third of the population in Gao, but that covered only part of the needs, according to the mission participants.

“Water is a main issue: some neighbourhoods in Gao did not have water at all due to dysfunctional pumps and lack of electricity,” said Laerke. “Outside of the city, the situation is even worse because the Niger River was the only source of water and there were concerns about cholera outbreaks.”

He said that 22 cases of cholera had been registered in May, and two people had died. No new cases had been reported in the past five days, however, but the risk of cholera remained high.

OCHA has deployed two staff to Gao and is in the process of opening an office. In total, there are more than 100 humanitarian organizations in Mali. The $410 million humanitarian appeal for Mali is 29 per cent funded as of today.

Providing an update on schools in the north, Marixie Mercado of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told reporters that 42 per cent of schools in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu are now functional, with 100,000 students being taught by 23,000 teachers. This is mostly in the urban areas since there is still a high level of insecurity in the rural areas, and across the region the lack of infrastructure and logistical resources is still a major constraint.

Mercado added that there is still a major chronic malnutrition crisis across the country, particularly in the south where 90 per cent of the population live.

UNICEF expected that in 2013, some 210,000 children will require life-saving treatment for malnutrition and 450,000 children will also suffer from a less severe, but still debilitating, form of malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that with the first round of presidential elections in Mali due on 28 July, consultations were under way between the interim Malian Government and refugee-hosting countries on including refugee populations in the voting. These consultations were expected to be followed by bilateral agreements that would form the basis of the electoral process in each of the main refugee-hosting countries.

“While details of the out-of-country electoral process are still being worked out, UNHCR is ready to facilitate the exercise by refugees of their right to vote,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.

According to the agency, some 174,000 Malians have found refuge in neighbouring countries since the conflict began in January 2012. Burkina Faso hosts 50,000 refugees, Mauritania 74,000 and Niger 50,000. Smaller groups of Malian refugees are also in Algeria.

“UNHCR supports the voluntary participation of refugees in the elections, although our role will be limited to a strictly humanitarian and non-political one,” Mr. Edwards stated.

In conjunction with refugee-hosting countries and refugees, UNHCR will facilitate space for dialogue on the electoral process, and for registration of voters. It is expected that registration of voters in camps and outside camps will be the responsibility of the Malian electoral commission, who would work with host governments to establish voting lists.

UNHCR has previously facilitated out-of-country voting by refugees in South Sudan in 2011, in Iraq in 2010 and in Afghanistan in 2004.

The funds, pledged in Brussels at the High-level Conference on Support and Development of Mali, will contribute to the West African country’s Sustainable Recovery Plan, which aims to restore its territorial integrity and promote peace, security and reconciliation, and pave the way for inclusive growth and long-term development. The overall cost of the Plan is €4.3 billion.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to halt the southward march of the extremist groups.

In line with the Recovery Plan, the UN will support the country in the areas of good governance, sustainable peace, and access to basic social services. In addition, the recently established Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) will provide support for authorities as they extend State control and work to strengthen good governance.

Mali is also expected to organize in July presidential elections, which are considered a key step in the transition process. To this end, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission have signed a financing agreement for €14.8 million in support of the electoral process.

UNDP has also been helping to build the capacities of the organizations involved in the political transition, including the recently established Commission for Dialogue and Reconciliation.

At the Conference, UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan warned that long-term development should not overshadow Mali’s immediate needs, and urged countries to step up their support to tackle the current humanitarian situation in the north of the country.

Meanwhile, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras, referring to the High-Level International Donors Conference for Mali, said: “This conference is an important initiative on the part of the European Union; an initiative in which France is playing a prominent and coordinating role. It is an initiative that points up the EU’s potential for intervening to stabilize crisis regions and functioning in the spirit of political and social solidarity.

On the margins of the Donors Conference for Mali, I briefed our partners on the major steps forward that the Greek economy has taken and on the progress of the reforms in key sectors of the state.

The international climate regarding our country is improving constantly, and this is the result of the very determined effort being made, first of all, by Greek citizens.

The results of this effort, as shown by the recent Eurogroup decisions regarding our country, are grounds for optimism so that we can continue to work hard to emerge from the crisis.”

“We know it’s going to be a fairly volatile environment,” the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, told journalists in New York moments after the 15-member Council unanimously adopted resolution 2100 establishing the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

“This is not an enforcement mission. This is not an anti-terrorist operation,” he stressed.

MINUSMA’s core task is to support the political process in Mali, in close coordination with the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

While officially established today, MINUSMA troops will not be on the ground until 1 July, when they will take over from the African-led force (AFISMA) and begin an initial 12-month mandate. That start date is subject to review and could be delayed in the event of a major international military operation or a continued threat from terrorist forces on the civilian population or international personnel, according to the resolution.

However, as of today, MINUSMA will assume responsibility for the mandated tasks being carried out by the UN Office in Mali (UNOM), which deployed in January and provides good offices aimed at facilitating contacts between the Government and those groups that wish to take part in the search for a political solution to the crisis.

In the resolution, the Security Council called on Member States to provide troops and police with “adequate capabilities and equipment in order to enhance the capacity of MINUSMA to operate, and discharge its responsibilities effectively.” Mr. Ladsous said meetings are planned with potential troop-contributing countries over the next few days.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups.

In parallel to MINUSMA, the Council authorized French troops “within the limits of their capacities and areas of deployment, to use all necessary means” to intervene in support of the mission when under imminent and serious threat, upon Mr. Ban’s request.

France’s Ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, today stated that his Government expects to keep 1,000 troops inside Mali until the end of the year.

While the protection of civilians is a key component of the mission’s mandate, the Council reminded the transitional authorities in Mali that the primary responsibility to protect civilians rests with them. They also noted that while UN peacekeepers have the authority to use force in certain cases, the Malian Defence and Security Force will continue to assume full responsibility for providing security throughout the country.

On the humanitarian front, the UN troops have the right to use force “to create a secure environment for the safe, civilian-led delivery of humanitarian assistance, in accordance with humanitarian principles, and the voluntary return of internally displaced persons and refugees in close coordination with humanitarian actors.”

The Council also authorized the use of force to assist the transitional authorities in protecting from attack the cultural and historical sites, in coordination with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

It also reiterated its call on all parties within Mali and on all Member States, particularly those in the area, “to cooperate fully with the deployment and activities of MINSUMA” and “to ensure the free, unhindered, and expeditious movement to and from Mali.”