HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHEN DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2016

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO VISIT D.R. CONGO AND SOUTH SUDAN

  • Over the weekend, the Secretary-General will leave New York for a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
  • On 23 February, he will be in Goma to visit people impacted by the insecurity and humanitarian crisis in the region, including those living in IDP camps.
  • The next day, the Secretary-General will be in Kinshasa for the opening session of the Great Lakes Private Sector Investment Conference. He is also expected to meet with President Joseph Kabila and several Government officials, as well as political and civil society representatives.
  • On 25 February, the Secretary-General will leave Kinshasa for Juba, South Sudan, where he will meet with President Salva Kiir and visit a Protection of Civilians’ site of the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS). The Secretary-General will be back in New York on Friday, 26 February.

U.N. AGENCIES REACH THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN NEED IN SYRIA

  • The Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has left Damascus and is on his way back to Geneva. Yesterday, he participated in the Humanitarian Task Force meeting via video conference from Damascus.
  • On the humanitarian side, the World Food Programme (WFP) said today that it has been able to bring life-saving aid to people in Moadamiyeh, an area that had been inaccessible to WFP aid for over a year and a half. Families there have received two bags of wheat flower and other food items, including rice, lentils, canned food and cooking oil.
  • WFP had also sent date bars that were fortified with vitamins and minerals.  In Moadamiyeh more than 21,000 people have been reached, while in Foah and Kefraya more than 20,000 people have received aid, as well as 39,000 people in Madaya and some 1,000 people in Zabadani.  
  • Meanwhile, WFP is planning an air drop operation to reach up to 200,000 people in Deir Ezzour. It would be a high altitude operation, dropping food with parachutes. Planes would take off from the region. As it is still in the planning stage, no further details can be provided for now.
  • The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that of the 82,000 people reached by the UN and partners in recent days, approximately 37,000 were children.

LEBANON: SECRETARY-GENERAL REMINDS ALL PARTIES TO REFRAIN FROM ANY RHETORIC EXACERBATING TENSIONS ACROSS BLUE LINE

  • In response to a question about the remarks by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah of Hizbullah, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General has condemned the statement by Hassan Nasrallah of 16 February, threatening to target Israeli civilians with Hizbullah’s rocket arsenal.
  • The Secretary-General reminded all parties to refrain from any rhetoric or act which could exacerbate tensions and present a risk to stability across the Blue Line.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL ATTENDS HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

  • The Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, visited Paris today to participate in the OECD/DAC high-level ministerial meeting, discussing the implementation of the 2030 agenda, preparations for the World Humanitarian Summit and the migration and refugee situation.
  • In connection to the visit, the Deputy Secretary-General was invited to meet with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to discuss a range of international issues, including Syria, Libya and the Middle East. Tomorrow morning, he is expected to travel to Turkey.

SOUTH SUDAN: PEACEKEEPERS INTENSIFY PATROL IN MALAKAL FOLLOWING CLASHES

  • The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has reported that the situation in its Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Malakal is now calm following an eruption of violence on Wednesday evening, but it remains concerned by the occurrence of such clashes.
  • The Mission added that the clashes between Shilluk and Dinka youths were further compounded by shooting coming from outside - reportedly from armed men wearing SPLA uniforms.
  • Peacekeepers have also now intensified their patrols around the perimeter of the site and secured specific areas in the vicinity of the UN base.
  • The Mission and partners are involved in discussions with community leaders from the PoC site to promote calm and dialogue between the communities. They also continue to engage with local authorities in Malakal to control the situation and evaluate immediate humanitarian needs.
  • The Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative in South Sudan, Moustapha Soumaré, briefed the Security Council today saying that violence continued in many regions, including in regions that were previously calm. He said he was particularly concerned by the deteriorating situation in Wau, which has also escalated in the past 48 hours.
  • He added that in response to the shifting dynamics of the conflict, the UN Mission there was focusing on projecting physical presence away from its bases through long-duration patrols and temporary bases in areas where insecurity is high.
  • Mr. Soumaré said that it was critical that the parties move ahead with the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity – the first step in fully implementing the Peace Agreement.
  • The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic, also briefed and he urged the South Sudanese parties to immediately cease all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and abuses of human rights.
  • He also urged members of the Security Council and regional leaders to continue engaging the parties to conflict in this regard. It cannot be tolerated, he said, that leaders make declarations in Juba, while the hostilities and attacks on the civilian population continue and intensify across the country.
  • The former Botswanan President Festus Mogae - who is the Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) for South Sudan - also briefed the Council.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: U.N. MISSION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME SUPPORT ELECTORAL PROCESS

  • The UN Mission in the Central African Republic said that it assisted with the transfer of electoral results from all 16 prefectures – which are now all in Bangui where they will be processed.
  • The Mission and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) are supporting the compilation of results. The National Electoral Authority (ANE) is expected to announce preliminary results from the presidential and legislative elections in the days to come.

U.N. CALLS FOR MORE FUNDING TO HELP PEOPLE AFFECTED BY HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN NIGER

  • Ahead of presidential elections in Niger, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the humanitarian situation in the country remains of concern.
  • According to our humanitarian colleagues, this year, two million people will suffer from food insecurity while 1.9 million will be threatened by malnutrition -  80 percent of  those are children.   
  • The situation is particularly dire in the Diffa region where 31 percent of the population has reached crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, and is affecting 17 per cent of people – that’s above the emergency threshold.
  • The Diffa region is also bearing the brunt of violence by Boko Haram that has spread into Niger and pushed some 200,000 people out of their homes.   
  • OCHA and partners are seeking US$316 million this year to address the combined effects of chronic food insecurity, malnutrition and displacement due to Boko Haram activities.

TWO CHILDREN DROWN EVERY DAY ON AVERAGE TRYING TO REACH SAFETY IN EUROPE – U.N. AGENCIES

  • The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and International organization for Migration (IOM) say that every day since last September, an average of two children have drowned as their families try to cross the eastern Mediterranean.
  • The agencies say the number of child deaths is growing and are calling for enhancing the safety of those escaping conflict and despair.
  • The Secretary General has called for a high-level meeting on global responsibility-sharing through legal pathways for admission of Syrian refugees. The meeting is expected to take place in Geneva on 30 March.

OVER HALF A MILLION CHILDREN AFFECTED BY CONFLICT IN UKRAINE, WARNS U.N. CHILDREN’S FUND

  • The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the conflict in Ukraine has deeply affected the lives of 580,000 children living in non-government controlled areas and close to the front line in eastern Ukraine. Of these, 200,000 children – or one in three – need psychosocial support.
  • More than 215,000 children are internally displaced from the conflict-affected areas. At least one out of every five schools has been damaged or destroyed.
  • Last year, UNICEF says, more than 20 children were killed and over 40 were injured. Out of those, 28 casualties were caused by mines and unexploded ordnance. A polio outbreak was confirmed in Ukraine 19 years after the country was declared polio free.
  • As temperatures plummet, fuel shortages and high prices of coal are leaving children at risk of respiratory infections. Lack of access to health services and a shortage of medicines are threatening more disease outbreaks.

NEW STUDY MEASURES DIRECT IMPACT OF BEES ON CROP YIELDS - FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

  • A new study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which measures the direct impact of bees on crop yields, shows that for smallholdings, pollination was the agricultural input that contributed the greatest to yields, beyond other management practices.
  • This holds promise for one of the major agricultural challenges of our time - how to help smallholders produce more without hurting the environment.
  • The research looks at how to attract bees and comes at a time when wild bees are threatened by a multitude of factors, including climate change.

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