BRIEFINGS TOMORROW
Tomorrow, our guest will be Marcoluigi Corsi, the Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator ad interim for Myanmar. He will join us virtually to brief on the one-month mark of the devastating earthquakes that hit Myanmar late last month.
Then, at 1 p.m., there will be a briefing here by Evangelos Sekeris, the Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of May.
He will discuss the Council’s programme for the month.
SUDAN
The Secretary-General is appalled by the increasingly catastrophic situation in Sudan’s North Darfur State, as deadly attacks continue on its capital, Al Fasher, which come just two weeks after an assault on the famine-stricken Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps which reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, including humanitarian workers.
With more than 400,000 people estimated to have been forced to flee the Zamzam camp alone earlier this month, the Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of harassment, intimidation and arbitrary detention of displaced people at checkpoints.
Despite continuing insecurity and severe funding shortfalls, the UN and its humanitarian partners are doing what they can to urgently scale up emergency support in the Tawila area of North Darfur, which is hosting a majority of those displaced from Zamzam, and we just mentioned what we were doing in Tawila just a few minutes ago.
The Secretary-General stresses that the scale of needs is overwhelming, with reports of desperate people – mostly women and children – crossing the border into Chad in search of safety and assistance.
Violence against civilians also continues in other parts of Sudan, with reports of mass killings in Omdurman in Khartoum State in recent days.
With the conflict now in its third year and increasingly destabilizing the broader region, the Secretary-General reiterates his call for the facilitation of safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all areas of need by all necessary routes, as well as for the protection of civilians, in line with the parties’ clear obligations under international humanitarian law. Perpetrators of serious violations must be held accountable.
The Secretary-General renews his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urges the international community to act with urgency to help bring an end to the relentless suffering and destruction.
SUDAN/HUMANITARIAN
Regarding Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more humanitarian supplies are being dispatched to Tawila, where more than 300,000 people fleeing recent attacks in Zamzam camp have sought safety.
Yesterday, an inter-agency aid convoy led by the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Antoine Gerard, crossed into the Darfur region from Chad via the Adre border crossing, on its way to Tawila. That convoy is carrying life-saving supplies, including dignity kits, nutrition and medical supplies and other essential items.
Food and nutrition assistance for some 220,000 people has already reached Tawila – we told you on Friday when those supplies from the World Food Programme started to arrive. WFP reports that distributions of that aid started today in Tawila and are already 20 per cent completed. The agency is also mobilizing additional assistance, as the numbers of displaced continue to climb.
Earlier last week, health, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene supplies for more than 340,000 people were dispatched from Chad to Tawila and to some localities in Central Darfur.
And today, another convoy of 19 trucks carrying nutrition supplies is expected to depart Chad for Tawila. The Sudan Humanitarian Fund – which is managed by OCHA – has disbursed more than $14 million this year in support of local and international partners responding in Tawila and other areas of North Darfur. This includes an emergency allocation of $2.5 million released last week to support emergency health, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene assistance for displaced people.
Meanwhile, the first WFP aid deliveries to the center of Khartoum have arrived. Distributions of 70 metric tonnes of food supplies for nearly 8,000 people in the Burri neighborhood will start tomorrow. These are the first distributions within the downtown area of Khartoum since the conflict started two years ago. Distributions have also started in Alazhari neighboorhood in south Khartoum for 20,000 people – one of the areas at high risk of famine.
SYRIA
The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Geir Pedersen expressed his deep concerned at the unacceptable violence in Syria especially in suburbs of Damascus and also in Homs.
Mr. Pedersen stated that he is alarmed at reports of civilian casualties and casualties among security personnel and the potential for further escalation of an extremely fragile situation. He is also alarmed at reports of Israeli attacks. These attacks must stop, he said.
The Special Envoy urges immediate measures to ensure the protection of civilians, bring about calm, and prevent incitement of communal tensions, and he notes and supports efforts underway in this regard. He calls for those responsible for incitement and killing of civilians to be held accountable.
He also calls for full respect of Syria’s sovereignty, and stresses that moving forward requires genuine inclusion and trust-building and meaningful dialogue and compromise.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that Israeli forces continue to bombard areas across the Strip, with attacks hitting tents and residential buildings. Scores of Palestinians have reportedly been killed or injured in recent days, with civilian infrastructure damaged.
As the full blocking on any supplies into Gaza approaches two months, stocks are being steadily depleted or have run out entirely. This leaves more than two million people with severe shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine and other essential supplies.
Our partners tell us that more community kitchens have closed this week and there are no tents left to distribute. The last five dozen emergency shelter kits – which do not include tents – are set to be distributed in the next few days.
People in Gaza have told our partners that they are having to live near raw sewage, as close to 10 metres away. This comes as recent hostilities destroyed more than a dozen trucks used to collect, transport and dispose of sewage.
Efforts to distribute water are being hampered by the lack of generators, solar panels and pipes. Fuel is also needed for the response, but as we told you yesterday, our efforts to retrieve it have been routinely denied by Israeli authorities.
Our partners working on gender-based violence say they lack fuel to operate safe spaces or conduct community outreach, which is limiting critical services to emergency case management when possible.
The UN Population Fund warns that all of the agency’s protection supplies – which include shelter materials, hygiene items and menstrual hygiene management kits – have been completely depleted.
The agency says only seven hospitals and four field hospitals across Gaza continue to provide obstetric and newborn care, and all are only partially functioning.
Hospitals are also reporting a sharp rise in the number of malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women, and most newborns are now born underweight.
Turning to the situation in the West Bank, OCHA warns that settler violence continues, with at least 23 incidents resulting in casualties or property damage documented between 15 and 26 April. In one incident, in a herding community of Masafer Yatta, Israeli settlers attacked a boy and his elderly father, who suffered life-changing injuries.
Our partners estimate that tens of thousands of Palestinians remain displaced in Jenin and Tulkarm due to the operation in the north, which continues to drive humanitarian needs, at a time when humanitarian partners continue to face movement restrictions in reaching those in need.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
We have an update on the peace process from our peacekeeping colleagues in the Central African Republic.
Today, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic and Head of MINUSCA, Valentine Rugwabiza, welcomed the decision by the leaders of the two armed groups, Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) and UPC - Unité pour la Paix en Centrafrique - to rejoin the Political Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic, signed in 2019.
Ms. Rugwabiza underscored that the Mission is closely monitoring these encouraging developments, reiterating that a return to the Political Agreement remains the only viable path to achieving lasting peace in the country.
The Mission stands ready to support the implementation of the agreement, in line with its mandate, once the reintegration modalities have been defined by the signatories—the Central African Government and the armed groups.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
We join our peacekeeping colleagues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to welcome the start of an operation to transport several hundred unarmed members of the country’s Armed Forces, Congolese National Police, and some dependents from MONUSCO facilities in Goma to Kinshasa.
Their transport to Kinshasa, where they will be supported by national authorities, is being conducted with their consent and under the protection of the Geneva Conventions.
This operation is being carried out with the mission’s logistical support and is facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross in its key role as a neutral intermediary.
The operation will take place over several days and will consist of multiple convoys.
This follows more than three months of continuous protection provided by MONUSCO to Congolese army and police personnel who had taken refuge in its bases since the M23 took control of Goma at the end of January.
In accordance with United Nations regulations, all individuals under MONUSCO’s protection had been disarmed.
Our Deputy Special Representative in the DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, said that the work carried out by our teams on the ground to protect these individuals in such a tense context demonstrates MONUSCO’s commitment to fulfilling its mandate, even under the most critical circumstances.
We thank the ICRC for its critical role in facilitating the implementation of this complex operation as a neutral intermediary with the agreement of all concerned actors.
Mr. Lemarquis called on all relevant parties to respect international humanitarian law and to do everything possible to ensure the success of this complex operation.
AFGHANISTAN
Turning to Afghanistan, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, was in Kunduz today, where he met the de facto provincial governor, Mohammad Khan Dawat. There, he also saw how we, along with our humanitarian partners on the ground, continue to deliver to people in need, including to a growing number of returnees. At a clinic providing vaccinations, maternal care and nutrition support, Mr. Fletcher spoke with women health workers about how access to critical care is shrinking as resources dry up and force other health providers to shut down. Staff told him of pregnant women losing their babies because of the huge distance and expense required to reach health services. The Under-Secretary-General also heard how funding cuts are crippling life-saving mine action work in Afghanistan. Landmines kill or injure 55 people every month on average in the country – 80 per cent of them children, often hurt while playing or going to school.
UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that last night, Kharkiv and Dnipro – Ukraine’s second and fourth largest cities – suffered multiple drone strikes. According to authorities, there were several people injured in Kharkiv, including children. There were also casualties in Dnipro. The attacks also damaged two health facilities and residential buildings in both cities. This is according to the authorities and our partners on the ground. We, along with partners, provided first aid, psychological support and emergency shelter kits and other vital supplies, complementing the efforts of the first responders. Meanwhile, authorities said hostilities along the front line also resulted in civilian casualties and destruction in the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia. Aid organizations facilitated the evacuations of the most vulnerable people, including people with limited mobility and families with children, from high-risk areas in the regions of Donetsk, Dnipro and Kharkiv to safer parts of Ukraine. They are providing transport support and helping secure accommodation in hosting communities. Today, two humanitarian convoys facilitated by the UN and our partners delivered 12 metric tonnes of medical, hygiene and other critical supplies to the residents of two front-line communities in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
HAITI
We have an update from the World Food Programme in Haiti. Our colleagues tell us that so far this year, they have reached over 1.3 million people in the country.
More than 750,000 hot meals have been provided to more than 110,000 recently displaced people. They have also provided cash assistance, support to prevent malnutrition among children, as well as school meals.
WFP has also been able to distribute rations to hard-hit communities in Cité Soleil, Lower Delmas and La Saline.
You will recall that, according to the most recent IPC analysis, published earlier this month, more than 5.7 million people – over half the population - face acute food insecurity.
WFP is urgently calling on donors to help sustain its operations in the country.
The agency requires $53.7 million to sustain lifesaving food and nutrition assistance for the next six months.
HAITI/HUMAN RIGHTS
I want to flag a new report by our human rights colleagues in Haiti.
During the first quarter of 2025, the human rights situation in Haiti remained extremely worrying, marked by mass crimes, kidnappings and sexual violence.
According to the report, between 1 January and the end of March, at least 1,617 people were killed and 580 injured in violence involving gangs, self-defence groups and members of the population, as well as in operations carried out by security forces.
At the same time, at least 161 kidnappings for ransom were documented, with 63 per cent of them taking place in the Artibonite department.
Our human rights colleagues say the first quarter was marked by the intensification of the activities of criminal groups to expand their territorial influence in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.
REFUGEES
The UN Refugee Agency today welcomed the arrival of the first Afghan refugee families under Brazil’s newly launched Community Sponsorship Programme. UNHCR noted that this is a pioneering initiative within Latin America to resettle, protect and integrate people forcibly displaced by the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Their reception and integration are being supported by civil societies organizations tasked by the Brazilian Government to sponsor and accompany refugees throughout their integration journey. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also supported the process of receiving the families. The UN Refugee Agency said that the Community Sponsorship Programme enables accredited organizations to nominate refugees for support in Brazil. UNHCR provides technical assistance and training to these sponsors and facilitates dialogue with local authorities and host communities.
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT
We have a senior personnel announcement. Today, the Secretary-General announced that he has invited his Special Adviser on Reforms, Jens Wandel of Denmark, to also act as an Adviser on the UN80 Initiative, reporting through Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Guy Ryder, to the Secretary-General. This will ensure complementarity between the ongoing reform streams and the UN80 Initiative.
JAZZ DAY
Today is International Jazz Day. This Day reminds us that music has the power to transcend borders, foster dialogue, and spark joy and hope.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
We say thank you to our friends in Kyrgyzstan, Andorra and Egypt for their full payments to the Regular Budget. The payments bring the number of fully paid-up Member States to 101.
