Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Madagascar continue to suffer one of the worst droughts the region has faced in more than 40 years. Severe lack of rain and sandstorms have made it nearly impossible to grow food, and at least 1.31 million people in the Grand Sud are severely food insecure.
Cyprus
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports significant job losses and deteriorated labour market conditions in Myanmar since the military takeover. ILO says employment contracted by an estimated 6 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, reflecting 1.2 million job losses.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Geneva on Monday, 26 April, where on Tuesday he convened the informal 5+1 meeting on the Cyprus issue.
Unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports. At least 1.35 million people need emergency food and nutrition assistance. Acute malnutrition in children under 5 has almost doubled over the last four months.
The Elsie Initiative, a United Nations Trust Fund that supports deployment of uniformed women to peace operations, announced this morning its first five recipients — Liberia, Mexico, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone — during a high-level virtual event. The Fund also launched its second programming round.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, with support from the World Health Organization and other partners, has launched a yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting more than 16.3 million people in the country, the first such drive against the disease in Africa this year.
The first members of the International Organization for Migration’s emergency response team arrived in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines today to deliver essential shelter and emergency items to thousands of people forcibly displaced after the eruption of La Soufrière volcano.
United Nations staff report that, despite recent improvements in humanitarian access, the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray remains alarming, with conflict in some areas restricting humanitarian movement and response. Insecurity in Tigray’s east zone last week reportedly impacted the movement of more than 20 relief trucks.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Major General Ingrid Gjerde of Norway as Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).