Lebanon

In South Africa, Acting Resident Coordinator, Ayodele Odusola and her team are focused on rebuilding the KwaZulu-Natal province and, in response to the pandemic, providing more than $750,000 in assistance and technical support and working with authorities through the district development model to improve social services.

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

In Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme (WFP) is launching its emergency response in the country amid the escalating food crisis.  WFP is working to provide life-saving food, cash and voucher assistance to 3 million of the most vulnerable people who can no longer meet their food needs due to the economic crisis there.

Almost one third of the food insecure South Sudanese that the World Food Programme (WFP) planned to support in 2022 will be without humanitarian food assistance due to funding shortages.  WFP said that the suspension of aid comes as South Sudan faces a year of unprecedented hunger.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Linda Thomas-Greenfield (United States):

The Secretary-General is concerned at reports of increased tension and violence in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan, including reported loss of life. He calls for restraint and for all efforts to be made to resolve the current situation by peaceful means. The United Nations will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed its serious concern about armed clashes on Sunday involving indiscriminate fire and alleged use of heavy weapons in the Janzour area, a densely populated neighbourhood of Tripoli.  The current mobilization of forces by different armed groups creates tensions and increases the risk of clashes.

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

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) today strongly condemned the widespread sexual violence, as well as killings of civilians, and attacks on aid workers in Leer County.  UNMISS has carried out 10 verification missions and says that 72 civilians were killed, and 64 cases of sexual violence have been recorded.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today released a report that says that groundwater, which accounts for 99 per cent of all liquid freshwater on Earth, is being undervalued, mismanaged and even abused.