SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS 
Let me start off with two senior personnel appointments for today. First, the Secretary-General has appointed Sima Sami Bahous of Jordan as the new Executive Director of UN-Women. This follows consultations with Member States and the Executive Board UN-Women. 
She succeeds Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her commitment and dedicated service in leading UN-Women. The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Director until Ms. Bahous assumes this position. You will recall that Ms. Bahous most recently served as Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations in New York.   
And a second announcement, the Secretary-General is appointing Ms. Sawako Shirahase of Japan as Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University.  
She succeeds Taikan Oki of Japan, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his contributions to the University’s work on water issues in connection to climate change and his initiative to engage the private sector in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. 
Ms. Shirahase is a sociologist whose research interests include social stratification and inequality, social demography, and generation and gender studies.   
She currently serves at the University of Tokyo as Professor of Sociology in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology.  
More information on these appointments on our website.
 
AFGHANISTAN
Turning to Afghanistan, as you know earlier today the Secretary-General spoke at the opening session of the High-Level Event on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan. He stressed that the people of Afghanistan need a lifeline, and that now is the time for the international community to stand with them. 
The Secretary-General said that, to continue our life-saving efforts in Afghanistan we need four things right away.  
First, funding, urging support to the Flash Appeal for $606 million. The UN Central Emergency Response Fund has allocated $20 million to support the humanitarian operations in the country.
Second, he said we need help to boost humanitarian access, including the airbridge with Kabul and other hubs in Afghanistan, while, third, we need to safeguard the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Finally, we need to ensure that our humanitarian response saves lives but also saves livelihoods. 
The Secretary-General also expressed admiration and gratitude to UN staff and the entire aid community in Afghanistan, the vast majority of whom are Afghan nationals. 
Those remarks have been shared with you.  
And a few moments ago, as you may have seen the Secretary-General spoke to the press in Geneva. He said that the conference exceeded his expectations. There are 156 participants, including more than 90 States, some in person and some virtual. 
He stressed that this shows how crucial Afghanistan is for the international community, adding that more than $1 billion has been pledged for the overall situation. We will shortly share with you the transcript. And our colleagues at OCHA are working on adding up the numbers as they come in, and of course, pledges are important but cash is the best, so we hope that those pledges are converted to cash soon.
  
AFGHANISTAN/HUMANITARIAN
The World Food Programme said that the first UN Humanitarian Air Service flight to Kabul since the Taliban took over the capital took off yesterday. The plan is for the UN Humanitarian Air Service to have flights 5 days a week - from Sunday to Thursday - from Islamabad into Afghanistan. The connection is Islamabad to Kabul, then onwards to Kandahar, Mazar and Herat, with a return to Islamabad via Kabul.  
As most of you are aware, the UN Humanitarian Air Service resumed its flights to Afghanistan on 29 August, linking Islamabad to Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat. WFP, which operated the flights on behalf of the UN said that adding Kabul to the destinations is a milestone. 

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL 
Turning to the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, she has concluded a three-day visit to Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia.  
In her meetings in Somalia, which included the President and Prime Minister, as well as women leaders, the Deputy Secretary-General highlighted how the forthcoming parliamentary elections can be an opportunity to build on the country’s progress in women’s political participation. She emphasized that women’s full inclusion in all sectors of society will contribute to greater resilience, peace and stability in the country. 
Ms. Mohammed also called on Somalia’s leadership to de-escalate tensions and avoid actions that could lead to violence and further delay the elections. She reiterated the support of the international community for timely, inclusive, peaceful and credible elections. 
In Kenya and Tanzania, Ms. Mohammed met with the heads of state and ministers of foreign affairs to discuss issues ranging from peace and security, pandemic recovery, and development. 

SOUTH SUDAN 
Our Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, wrapped up a four-day visit to South Sudan yesterday to encourage the implementation of the peace agreement. 
He reiterated the support of UN peacekeepers and aid workers as South Sudan makes the difficult journey from war to peace. Mr. Lacroix stressed the need for parties to work together to increase momentum in the peace process to secure a durable peace. 
Also on South Sudan, the World Food Programme today said it will suspend food assistance for more than 100,000 displaced people in parts of the country for three months, starting October, due to funding shortages. 
WFP said that further cuts may be inevitable if funding levels continue to drop, calling for an additional $154 million to provide food assistance in the next four months. 
Mr. Lacroix is back in New York and we hope to have him here, in the flesh, I think on Friday.

ETHIOPIA 
Moving to Ethiopia. The World Health Organization Logistics Hub in Dubai has now delivered 85 metric tons of life-saving medical supplies to Ethiopia. This was the largest single shipment of humanitarian cargo to date airlifted by our WHO colleagues and the Hub. 
The supplies, including medicines, trauma and emergency surgery kits, consumables, equipment, and cholera kits, were flown by a charter flight donated by the United Arab Emirates, to whom we’re grateful, and that landed in Addis Ababa a few days ago and will address the urgent needs of more than 150,000 people. 
The shipment to Ethiopia wrapped up a historic week for the WHO Dubai Logistics Hub. Dispatching over four times the weekly average, the operation shipped more than 450 metric tons of medical supplies valued at more than $4.3 million in support of the cholera outbreak response in Nigeria. The operation also shipped critical medicines to Afghanistan, and trauma and surgical supplies to Syria and Yemen. 

COVAX  
Quick COVAX update for you. Peru has received over 360,000 doses of vaccines, AstraZeneca, through the COVAX mechanism. With this shipment, the country has now received over 2 million doses through COVAX since March. Our team on the ground, led by Resident Coordinator Igor Garafulic, continues to support authorities to tackle the profound impacts of the pandemic, on the social, economic and health fronts in Peru. 

GUEST TOMORROW 
Tomorrow, we will have another guest to talk to you about the UN’s work in Afghanistan and that will be Rein Paulsen, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience. He will brief you on work that FAO is doing with farmers in Afghanistan. Edie.