Somalia

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today jointly sounded the alarm on the new asylum law and plans to transfer asylum-seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda, calling for practical measures instead to address irregular flows of migrants and refugees.

In Cameroon, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned today that vital food assistance to refugees in the country’s far north, Adamawa, and east and north regions is at risk of grinding to a halt due to funding shortfalls.

In Chad, the UN, aid partners and the Government today launched the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which seeks $1.1 billion to help 4.6 million there, with a priority focus on food security and nutrition as the country braces for what could be the worst lean season in over a decade.

In Somalia, the deputy heads of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization arrived in the country today on a joint mission to urge continued global support for Somalis suffering from the impact of hunger, conflict and climate change.

The international community must continue to accompany Somalia along its path to full ownership of its security responsibility, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members warned that any security vacuum could be exploited by Al-Shabaab insurgents and undermine the advances made so far in the country’s political, economic and security situations.

Following a surge of hostilities in Ukraine over the weekend, humanitarian organizations have provided materials for emergency repairs to houses. Meanwhile, the UN and its partners are addressing the impact of oil spillage on water sources in Kharkiv after a strike on an oil storage facility in that area on 9 February.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is strengthening its presence near the borders with Sudan, and peacekeepers are intensifying their patrols in Abiemnom County in Ruweng State and in Mayom County. A priority is to enhance security along the main supply route, which is vital for the transport of humanitarian aid.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Raisedon Zenenga of Zimbabwe as his new Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says they are alarmed by statistics revealing a surge of the number of Rohingya refugees dying or going missing while taking risky boat journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) officially confirmed in a statement today that 2023 was the warmest year on record — by a huge margin — as the annual average global temperature approached 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. WMO will issue its final “State of the Global Climate” report for 2023 in March.