Africa

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that attacks have continued in the country today, while since yesterday morning, humanitarian organizations have been providing emergency assistance to civilians affected by the latest attacks in the Kharkiv and Dnipro regions.

Amid growing fears of widespread insecurity in West Africa and the Sahel, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today of the need to reconfigure the region’s security coordination mechanism, including the possible deployment of an African Union standby team.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Security Council unanimously agreed today to consider, on a case-by-case basis, requests from the African Union Peace and Security Council seeking for authorization to access United Nations assessed contributions for African-led peace support operations.

Central Africa is facing an extremely worrying humanitarian situation, with 42 million people in need of assistance and 2.6 million internally displaced, the Organization’s senior official in the subregion told the Security Council today, as delegates underscored the need to support inclusive democratic transitions in Chad and Gabon, address continuing threats from Boko Haram and mitigate the impact of climate change on regional security.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a $1.2 billion humanitarian appeal today to support 48 million people with reproductive health and gender-based violence services in 58 countries in 2024. In 2023, UNFPA received only half of its humanitarian funding needs.

In South Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that more than half of the country’s population is going hungry, and an estimated 1.6 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June 2024.

To degrade the threat posed by Al-Shabaab to Somalia and the region, the Security Council decided today to renew the sanctions regime and arms embargo against that terrorist group.

Following is the transcript of the joint press conference by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, in New York today:

The Secretary-General launched the 2023 United Nations Environment Programme Emissions Gap report, warning that if nothing changes, in 2030 emissions will be 22 gigatons higher than the 1.5°C limit will allow and roughly the total annual emissions of the United States, China and the European Union combined.