The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs allocated $4 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to respond to the crisis in Mali’s Ménaka region, where armed clashes since March have killed hundreds of people and triggered the displacement of an estimated 56,000 people, nearly two‑thirds of them women and children.
In Yemen, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that aid agencies remain concerned that the humanitarian crisis there will deteriorate sharply in the coming months largely due to economic problems, including a weaker currency and higher prices due to the Ukraine war.
In Ukraine, United Nations humanitarian partners said that intense hostilities were reported over the weekend, across Government and non-Government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today awarded the Population Award for an individual to its youngest‑ever recipient, Emma Theofelus, a 25-year-old Parliamentarian from Namibia for her work advocating for women’s empowerment and adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
The Secretary-General condemned the attack in Mali which killed two peacekeepers and injured two others after their vehicle — an armoured personnel carrier — hit an improvised explosive device outside of the town of Douentza. Despite such challenging circumstances, United Nations personnel are continuing their mandated work.
In northern Ethiopia, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are continuing to provide assistance across Tigray, Afar and Amhara. Since the resumption of convoys at the beginning of April, 875 trucks have arrived in Tigray, carrying more than 32,800 tons of supplies, including food.
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has, in what it calls a major breakthrough, brokered a peace accord between the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities, who agreed to dialogue to protect people, livestock and property, and to find a sustainable solution to the final status of Abyei.
Protais Mpiranya, the last of the major fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), is confirmed to have died. Alleged to have been a senior leader of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Mr. Mpiranya was charged with eight counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as the murders of 10 Belgian United Nations peacekeepers.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which chairs the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, presented this year’s Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award to activist Cécile Ndjebet of Cameroon.
Before leaving Kyiv today, the Secretary-General said that, while he would keep pushing for a full-scale ceasefire, the United Nations would also keep striving for immediate practical steps to save lives and reduce human suffering, including through local cessation of hostilities and safe passage for civilian and supply routes.
The Houthis movement — also known as Ansar Allah — have signed an action plan with the United Nations to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, the killing and maiming of boys and girls, attacks on schools and hospitals and other grave violations. Virginia Gamba, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, signed the action plan as a witness in New York.
Somalia faces a risk of famine in six areas through June 2022 if the rainy season from April to June fails as predicted, if food prices continue to rise, and if humanitarian assistance is not scaled up to reach the most vulnerable populations. An estimated 4.9 million people across Somalia have been impacted.
Humanitarian needs across the Sahel region are at unprecedented levels due to escalating conflict, climate change, rising food insecurity and record-high food prices, United Nations officials report, saying that more than 30 million men, women and children in the Sahel will need assistance and protection in 2022.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Some 10,000 people have sought refuge in Uganda’s Kisoro district, following violent clashes that began on Monday in the Rutshuru territory. The United Nations Refugee Agency is working with the Government of Uganda and humanitarian partners to provide assistance.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today said the number of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers in Costa Rica has doubled in the last eight months, reaching more than 150,000 people. This represents 3 per cent of Costa Rica’s total population of 5 million.
A total of 36 donors at yesterday’s pledging event for Yemen pledged nearly $1.3 billion, only 30 per cent of the roughly $4.3 billion required for an efficient and effective response to the humanitarian crisis. Unprecedented funding shortages are forcing reductions and closures of life-saving aid.
Malawi confirmed its first polio case in 30 years on 16 February, which was also Africa’s first polio case in in more than five years. So far, there has been no further spread of the disease, thanks to swift and concerted efforts by the national authorities, with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said they are closely following reports about the mobilization of forces and movement of large convoys of armed groups that have increased tensions in and around Tripoli. The Mission calls on all parties to refrain from any action that could lead to armed clashes.
