UN rights chief calls for ‘urgent reversal’ to civilian rule in coup-hit African countries

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief has called for an “urgent reversal” of military takeovers and return to civilian rule in African countries where coups have driven out elected leaders. Volker Türk’s comments on Monday set the early tone for the U.N.’s top human rights body as he opened its fall session against the backdrop of conflicts and crises — including the plights of migrants from Myanmar to Mali and Mexico. He said that “the unconstitutional changes in government that we have seen in the Sahel” region in Africa are not the solution. Türk also laid out a litany of concerns, from “extreme gang violence” in Haiti to “nonchalance” about the deaths of 2,300 migrants in the Mediterranean this year.