SECRETARY-GENERAL'S TRAVEL
The Secretary-General is on his way to India, where he will arrive in the coming hours in Mumbai.
Tomorrow, he will talk to students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and discuss the partnership between India and the United Nations and strengthening South-South Cooperation. He will also take part in an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
He will also discuss the many challenges we face, from dealing with climate change to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
MALI
This morning, the Security Council members heard a briefing by El-Ghassim Wane, the head of our peacekeeping mission in Mali.
He highlighted the progress in the transition and peace process, but he also spoke about his concerns linked to the security situation in the country.
He said that the UN peacekeeping mission strives to better protect civilians, adding that the needs on the ground far outweigh MINUSMA’s ability within the current resources.
Also, you will have seen that in a statement issued earlier today. We learned with great sadness that a fourth peacekeeper also from Chad died as a result of his wounds sustained in yesterday’s IED explosion in Tessalit, in the Kidal region. In the statement the Secretary-General strongly condemned the attack and extended his heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Chad and his sympathies to the families of the victims.
LIBYA
On Libya, which we haven’t talked about in a while, I want to tell you that our Special Representative for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, arrived at the end of last week in Tripoli.
Following his arrival, he met with the Presidential Council leadership, Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Agila Saleh. Previously, Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush welcomed him to the country via a phone call, as she was away from the country.
The different Libyan stakeholders welcomed Mr. Bathily and expressed their readiness to work with him to find a political solution to the conflict.
He relayed to his Libyan interlocutors that the UN Mission’s top priority remains supporting Libya in identifying a consensual pathway toward fair, inclusive elections as soon as possible and to ensure a Libyan-owned and Libyan-led solution to the crisis.
Over the next few weeks, Mr. Bathily plans to consult with a wide range of stakeholders including civil society, women and youth groups from across Libya.
UKRAINE
An update from Ukraine, this time from our colleagues at the Food and Agriculture Organization. They say they are asking for $180.4 million to strengthen the country’s capacity for food storage, testing and certifications, which are necessary for export at border facilities.
To date, FAO has mobilized $79.7 million, leaving a gap of $100.7 million, which is urgently needed to support households in rural areas during the winter.
According to the government, Ukraine exported 12.9 million tonnes of cereals, legumes and flour in the 2022-23 marketing year compared to 20 million tonnes last year. More than 7.8 million tonnes of this grain and foodstuff were exported through the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
FAO has also distributed more than 3,600 tonnes of wheat seeds to small-scale farmers and rural households. It has also delivered cash assistance to over 1,000 rural households and it’s aiming to reach over 4,800 households - that’s about 10,000 people - in the coming months.
COUNTER TERRORISM
The High-Level Conference on International and Regional Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism and Prevent the Movement of Terrorists opened today in Dushanbe, in the capital of Tajikistan.
The two-day event is co-organized by our colleagues in the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia, along with other partners.
In a video message for the event, the Secretary-General said that secure borders – managed in full respect of international refugee and human rights law are critical defences against diverse challenges, including illicit trafficking, organized crime, and the international movement of terrorists.
He reiterated the UN’s commitment to work hand in hand with Member States in this vital undertaking.
SYRIA
As of 14 October, the World Health Organization says there have been 15,823 suspected cases of cholera in Syria. There have been 807 confirmed cases of cholera, and 68 reported deaths across the country. That’s as of 14 October.
The rise in cases is compounded by severe country-wide water shortages, due to low water levels in the Euphrates and drought-like conditions. Water infrastructure has also been destroyed or damaged, leaving people reliant on unsafe water sources.
Our humanitarian partners say they are facing shortages in cholera supplies, such as medicines and water and sanitation and hygiene supplies.
Also on Syria, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that stepped-up fighting in the north-west of the country in the past week has resulted in civilian casualties, with people forced to flee their homes and clashes are continuing today.
In northern Aleppo, more than 6,300 people fled their homes in last week’s clashes. Food, shelter and other supplies are urgently needed to help these newly displaced people.
CHAD
Turning to Chad, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that more than one million men, women and children in Chad are now impacted by floods, in 18 out of 23 provinces.
Heavy rains started in early July and have quickly overwhelmed drainage channels and ponds.
The southern part of the country was hit the hardest, but the flooding also struck some eastern provinces such as in Sila causing rivers to overflow.
In the capital, N’Djamena, several neighborhoods are entirely submerged, with people forced to flee their homes.
Some 465,000 hectares of agricultural land have been destroyed, which could further aggravate the already critical food insecurity situation in the country.
We and our humanitarian partners, in support of the Government, have delivered food, medicine, tents, mosquito nets, solar lamps and other items to about 200,000 people.
The humanitarian community and the Chadian Government’s joint flood response plan seeks nearly $70 million to reach 800,000 people, but so far, but so far it’s only 25 per cent funded.
We are ramping up efforts to mobilize resources to reach more people. Last month, $5 million was allotted from the Central Emergency Response Fund to respond to the floods.
The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Chad is only 38 per cent funded.
HEALTH
The latest Every Woman Every Child Progress report was released today by UNICEF, the UN Population Fund and the World Health Organization and other partners and it shows that women’s and children’s health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have converged with devastating impacts.
Data presented in the report shows a regression across every major measure of childhood wellbeing, and many key indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals. Food insecurity, hunger, child marriage, risks from partner violence, and adolescent depression and anxiety have also increased in the last two years.
HAITI
And I am sure many of you followed yesterday’s briefing on Haiti. The Security Council was briefed by the head of the UN Mission, Helen La Lime. She said that the urgency of the situation is tearing at the political and social fabric of the country.
She reiterated the Secretary-General’s call on Haiti’s partners to consider the Prime Minister’s request for a specialized international armed force as a matter of urgency.
Any comprehensive resolution requires a Haitian-led political solution, adding that she also called on the Council to act decisively to help address the persistent scourges of insecurity and corruption in Haiti.
HYBRID BRIEFING/ GUEST TOMORROW
Programming notes. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., there will be a briefing here by Edgar Corzo Sosa, the Chair of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and Felipe González Morales, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. Important briefing.
At noon, I will be joined by our friend Bruno Lemarquis, who is the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And on Thursday I will be joined by Denise Brown, who was here in person, who is our Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in Ukraine.
