Office of the Spokesperson
U.S. Special Envoy for the Sahel Region Ambassador J. Peter Pham represented the United States at the Ministerial Roundtable for the Central Sahel on responding to the crisis in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger as part of the High-Level Humanitarian Event co-hosted by Denmark, Germany, the European Union, and the United Nations. Jenny McGee, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Associate Administrator for Relief, Response, and Resilience and Richard Albright, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration joined Ambassador Pham in representing the United States.
Ambassador Pham underscored U.S. contributions to the Sahel region. He highlighted U.S. leadership as the largest single humanitarian, development, and health donor in the region and U.S. commitment to improving security conditions on the ground for those affected by conflict as well as the humanitarian aid workers that seek to alleviate their suffering. Pham called on governments in the region to focus on civilian protection and on ensuring justice and accountability for human rights violations and abuses as well as international humanitarian law. He gave examples of how the United States is helping the people of the Sahel transition from receiving humanitarian aid to investing in their development, and he reiterated the need to focus on addressing the root causes of violence and instability.
A link to Dr. Pham’s remarks as prepared is available at https://www.state.gov/remarks-at-the-ministerial-roundtable-for-the-central-sahel/. Video of the event is also available at http://webtv.un.org/.