Noon briefing of 11 December 2025

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

THURSDAY, 11 DECEMBER 2025

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 

The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the escalation in violence in South Kivu and its humanitarian consequences, including the displacement of over 200,000 people since 2 December. The Secretary-General strongly condemns the offensive by the Alliance Fleuve Congo/ Mouvement du 23 mars (AFC/M23) in several locations in South Kivu Province, including Kamanyola, Luvungi, Katogota and Uvira, which has resulted in civilian casualties.   

He calls for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, in line with Security Council resolution 2773 (2025). He underscores that this escalation risks seriously undermining efforts to achieve a sustainable resolution of the crisis and increases the risk of a broader regional conflagration. He urges the parties to abide by their commitments under the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, signed on 4 December, and to fully respect the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 15 November. 

The Secretary-General notes that the United Nations is fully mobilized to work with partners to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in need and reiterates his readiness to continue supporting ongoing diplomatic efforts to restore peace in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region, in line with the Peace, Security and Cooperation (PSC) Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region. 

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO/HUMANITARIAN 

Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that the number of people affected by the fighting since December 2nd has risen significantly.  

[New reports indicate that more than half a million people have been displaced.]  

While some families have started returning to areas where it is now relatively calm, the vast majority of them remain in overcrowded sites, where they face heightened protection risks and increased threats of disease outbreaks, including cholera and mpox. 

Our colleagues say the situation today is calm in the town of Uvira, though sporadic gunfire persists in several neighborhoods. Yesterday, an explosion in the neighborhood of Kimanga reportedly killed two civilians and injured three others. Uvira’s main referral hospital continues to receive an influx of wounded people, including more than 60 patients transferred from Ruzizi Hospital, which reportedly ceased operations on Tuesday due to insecurity. 

People continue to flee to the province of Tanganyika. Between December 8thand today, at least 27,000 people arrived in Kisongo and Kabimba in Kalemie territory, with additional arrivals reported in Kalemie town and along Lake Tanganyika’s shores. 

OCHA continues to engage with all parties to facilitate the safe movement of humanitarian teams and to enable the resumption of aid operations. Efforts are underway to pre-position critical stocks – including shelter, water, food, and support for health and protection. Additional funding is urgently needed to provide critical life-saving and protection assistance to newly displaced people.     

People fleeing the violence in South Kivu also continue to arrive in Burundi. Yesterday, OCHA coordinated a rapid needs assessment in the areas of Ndava and Gatumba, where our humanitarian partners and authorities estimate that more than 50,000 people have sought safety. The Cishemere transit camp is hosting 5,000 people, while Bweru is hosting 1,000, with more people continuing to arrive. 

The refugees – mainly women and children – are arriving exhausted and injured. Despite our partners’ efforts to scale up the response, conditions at these sites remain very precarious – and shelter, food, water, hygiene supplies, sanitation facilities, and protection support are urgently needed. However, humanitarians’ ability to scale up the response is severely constrained by limited funding. 

With some parts of South Kivu in DRC facing a cholera outbreak, it is urgent that the public health response can be scaled up Burundi’s Cibitoke and Gatumba areas, where refugees are being hosted. The Government of Burundi is relocating some of the refugees to the Bweru site, in the eastern part of the country. 

UNHCR is providing buses to transport refugees from border points to Bweru and has installed refugee housing units and a water tank to meet basic needs. 

Meanwhile in Rwanda, UNHCR is supporting the Government response and providing assistance at the Nyarushishi Transit Centre – including registration, health and nutrition services, protection support, hot meals and other essentials.   

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL 

On Thursday, the Secretary-General continued his visit to Saudi Arabia. In the morning, Mr. Guterres visited the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Saudi Arabia’s main humanitarian relief organization. Meeting with the centre’s leadership and staff representatives, the Secretary-General strongly commended the centre’s extraordinary humanitarian work around the world. 

The Secretary-General later met with His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal. They exchanged views on global and regional issues.  

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General delivered a lecture at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies on the state of the world and the United Nations.  

In the evening, the Secretary-General attended a working dinner organized by His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Also at the meeting were His Excellency the Minister of Economy,  Faisal Al Ibrahim, and His Excellency the Minister of Finance, Mohammed al-Jadaan. 

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL 

The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, was in Geneva yesterday as part of the broader UN80 consultation process, meeting with senior UN officials across the system, Member States, and other key stakeholders. Her discussions focused on reinforcing partnerships and gathering perspectives that will help shape the Organization’s shared priorities for the year ahead. 

The Deputy Secretary-General then traveled to London. She will be back in New York next Monday. 

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

Turning to the Gaza Strip, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that heavy rains have flooded tents, soaked people’s belongings, and increased health risks – including hypothermia among babies and illnesses linked to overflowing sewage. 

Today, our teams on the ground set up a system for a rapid, joint response to flooding alerts. It brings together UN agencies and NGOs, working side-by-side to distribute tents, tarps, warm clothes, blankets and dignity kits across Gaza. As of earlier today, they had already processed over 160 flooding alerts since the morning and undertaken assessments covering more than 16,000 families in different areas. These numbers are expected to increase as more updates come from our teams on the ground.   

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency, said on social media that with this ongoing storm, people who had already lost everything now face another layer of misery. He said that UNRWA teams – many of whom are displaced themselves – are pumping away sewage and floodwater, clearing garbage, distributing critical items, and providing medical care. 

Ahead of this storm, the UN and our partners had already increased winter support, including for families in shoreline areas at high risk of flooding, and for others choosing to relocate away from those areas. 

Our partners leading on-site management helped people prepare by distributing empty flour sacks to be used as sandbags, along with tools and sand wherever possible. Based on their flood-risk analysis, more than 760 displacement sites hosting roughly 850,000 people are at the highest risk of flooding. That’s about 40 per cent of Gaza’s population.   

Over the past week, the UN and our partners continued delivering relief items: more tents and tarps, and as we mentioned yesterday, a significant increase in winter clothing for children – from 5,000 to 8,000 kits every day. Our colleagues leading on water and sanitation are supporting pre-positioned mobile pumps in low-lying areas and put contractors with heavy machinery on standby. They have also been working hard to clear and unblock stormwater and sewage systems. 

OCHA stresses that to meet the immense needs, restrictions on humanitarian operations must be eased or lifted. This includes ending the ongoing ban on most international NGOs and on UNRWA, which continue to serve communities despite operating under severe constraints. To further scale up the response, we also urgently need more crossings, more routes, and approval to bring a wider range of relief items into Gaza. 

SECURITY COUNCIL 

This morning, Abdou Abarry, our Special Representative for Central Africa briefed the Security Council. He said that in the six months since his last briefing, the region has made some progress, although it still faces challenges. 

Electoral processes continue to pose risks, as do the war in Sudan and insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin, which are causing significant population displacement and threatening the stability of the region's states. 

Turning to electoral processes, he noted that by the of the year, there will be no more political transitions underway in Central Africa. After Chad, Gabon’s transition is scheduled to be finalized by the end of December. In Cameroon, Mr. Abarry said that although the election itself took place peacefully, post-election tensions, including the death in custody of a leading opposition figure, were a cause for great concern. 

In the Lake Chad Basin, Mr. Abarry said groups affiliated with Boko Haram continue to demonstrate their ability to adapt in the face of operations by the defense and security forces of the four affected countries. 

He called on council members to support current efforts to bring peace and stability to the region. 

SUDAN 

Turning to Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that civilians continue to face escalating and indiscriminate violence across the Darfur and Kordofan regions. 

In South Darfur State, some 30 civilians were reportedly killed and many more injured - including women and children - in Monday’s drone strike in the town of Katila, about 150 kilometres south-west of Nyala. The strike, which hit a location under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, underscores the devastating impact of intensifying aerial attacks on civilians. 

Meanwhile, in South Kordofan State, drone strikes in and around the state capital Kadugli and the town of Dilling point to a rapidly worsening security situation. The International Organization for Migration says that more than 1,300 people were displaced between Monday and Wednesday across the state due to insecurity and inter-communal tensions, fleeing villages in the localities of Kadugli, Talawdi and Abassiya. 

OCHA reiterates its call for all parties to immediately cease attacks against civilians and to adhere to the fundamental principles under international humanitarian law of distinction, proportionality and precaution.  

In Khartoum State, findings from a recent assessment by one of our partners of more than 1,200 families point to extreme food insecurity, driven by price increases of up to 500 per cent and the widespread collapse of livelihoods. Many families now rely on borrowing food, skipping meals or selling their remaining assets to survive. Once again, we call for rapid, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access across Sudan.                     

We and our partners are working to expand cash and voucher assistance and are providing emergency agriculture inputs and livestock support to 64,000 farming households and 10,000 livestock-keeping families.  

And we once again urge the international community to step up support so that life-saving assistance can reach people in urgent need across Sudan. 

MYANMAR 

The UN is deeply alarmed by reports of airstrikes in Rakhine State yesterday - December 10th.  The strikes hit the general hospital in Mrauk-U Township, reportedly killing more than 30 civilians and injuring more than 70 others, including patients, caregivers and medical staff. There are fears that the casualty figures will rise further.  

The World Health Organization says that this is the 67thattack on health in Myanmar that the agency has verified this year. This bombing, which affected a medical facility underscores, the grave and deteriorating situation facing civilians in Myanmar. Medical facilities and civilians, including medical personnel, must be respected and protected. The United Nations condemns this attack, which is part of a broader pattern of strikes causing harm to civilians and civilian objects that continue to devastate communities across the country. 

We continue to call on all parties to observe their obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law.  

Humanitarian needs in Myanmar are soaring. The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, released yesterday, calls for $890 million, warning that 16.2 million people, including 5 million children, will require assistance and protection next year. Conflict and disasters have already displaced an estimated 3.6 million people, with many forced to flee repeatedly. 

SRI LANKA 

Turning to Sri Lanka, today, we and our humanitarian partners launched a Humanitarian Priorities Plan appealing for $35 million to scale up life-saving assistance for communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, which struck the country late last month. 

The storm has caused extensive loss of life and widespread damage across the country. At its peak, nearly 2.2 million people were affected, with over 600 deaths recorded to date and nearly 200 people still missing. More than 91,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.    

The plan, which aims to reach 658,000 of the most vulnerable people through April, follows the Government’s request for international assistance and outlines how humanitarian partners are working together to quickly deliver assistance to meet critical needs in support of national efforts. 

The UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche, said that Cyclone Ditwah has hit the poorest and the most vulnerable the hardest -- affecting nearly every aspect of their lives and intensifying the difficulties they were already facing. 

Initial contributions from donors, coupled with a $4.5 million allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund, are enabling rapid assistance, but significant gaps remain. We call on the international community to contribute to ensure that life-saving assistance reaches all who need it most. 

MOUNTAIN DAY 

Today is International Mountain Day. This year’s theme “Glaciers matter for water, food and livelihoods in mountains and beyond”, highlights the vital role of glaciers and the urgent need to protect them. 

On this Day, the Secretary-General recalls seeing firsthand how glaciers are melting as global temperatures rise. Glaciers may be retreating, he says, but we cannot.  

GUEST TODAY

Good afternoon everyone. After you are done with me you will hear from Lola Castro, who is the World Food Programme's Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, she will be speaking to you from Haiti and she will talk about the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Before we turn to her, I have some notes to you and we are starting with a statement on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

GUEST TOMORROW

Tomorrow, my guest will be Rik Peeperkorn , WHO Representative for the West Bank and Gaza.   

He will be joining us from Gaza to brief on the health situation there. 

It will also be his last press conference before he retires at the end of this month.