In Sudan, the United Nations is working with partners to provide life‑saving aid to 9 million vulnerable people. Operations must continue unimpeded to prevent the humanitarian situation there from deteriorating further. However, the 2021 response plan, which seeks $1.9 billion, remains only 30 per cent funded.
The new Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, Osama Mahmoud Abdel Khalek Mahmoud, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
The Security Council today encouraged Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resume negotiations, at the invitation of the African Union Chairperson, on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, with a view to finalizing the text of a mutually acceptable agreement on filling and operating the dam “within a reasonable time frame”.
Humanitarian officials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said the entry of goods into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing remains limited, and some 250,000 people are still without regular access to piped water. They called for a return to the predictable entry of goods and the easing of movement restrictions.
While Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan all have legitimate claims to, and concerns about, use of the Nile River Basin’s waters, the three neighbours should negotiate in good faith towards a mutually beneficial agreement on the historic waterway’s sustainable management, the senior United Nations official for the Horn of Africa told the Security Council today.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, with support from the World Health Organization and other partners, has launched a yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting more than 16.3 million people in the country, the first such drive against the disease in Africa this year.
The United Nations Human Rights Office in South-East Asia reports that 500 peaceful protesters have been killed and 2,600 others detained by security forces in Myanmar since 1 February. It is asking States in the region to protect people fleeing violence and ensure that refugees and migrants are not forcibly returned.
On International Women’s Day, peacekeeping colleagues report that Bangladesh, for the first time, is deploying four justice government-provided personnel, all women, to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), later this month.
The International Organization for Migration is calling today for urgent action by the European Union and its member States to end pushbacks, collective expulsions and the use of violence against migrants and refugees at the regional bloc’s external land and maritime borders.
The United Nations team in Indonesia is supporting efforts to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population, over 216 million people, against COVID-19. Work has begun to bring the country into the COVAX facility, and the World Health Organization helped finalize a vaccine introduction road map and guidelines.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, raised concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse impact on children in conflict zones. In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, she urged States to incorporate child rights in virus containment plans and ensure that protection services continue to operate.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s team in Brazil is supporting the state of Amazonas in tackling latest surge of COVID-19. The United Nations Children’s Fund delivered 250 hygiene kits and food baskets, while the International Organization for Migration is working to mitigate transmission in indigenous and riverside communities.
On 11 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Elena Panova of Bulgaria as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt, with the host Government’s approval.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Somalia, more than 150,000 people have fled their homes since late June — including 230,000 in the last week alone — due to flooding in the south. Some 650,000 people across the country having been displaced by heavy rains since January, with many now living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters. Food is in short supply and many are going hungry.
An agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is within reach, with the United Nations standing ready to support talks and the African Union-led process to settle remaining differences, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council in a 29 June videoconference meeting.
The United Nations and the Government of Bangladesh are making preparations as Super Cyclone Storm Amphan approaches landfall tomorrow, potentially impacting more than 14 million people in the country. The Humanitarian Coordination Task Team and the Government are working on preparedness and response activities.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Almost 300,000 people in Burkina Faso have been forced to flee their homes since last December and nearly 766,000 in total are displaced as of today. More than half the internally displaced have inadequate shelter or none at all, and $10 million has been allocated from the Central Emergency Fund to help them.
The International Organization of Migration today launched a $10 million appeal to support recovery efforts in the Bahamian islands of Abaco and Grand Bahamas, which were hit by Hurricane Dorian in September. The funds will be used to assist shelters, provide non-food items and track missing persons.
