Briefing by Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Valerie Amos has informed me of her intention to step down as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. The Secretary-General would like to express utmost gratitude for her outstanding service to the United Nations, and the humanitarian community and people in need.
Valerie Amos briefed the Security Council yesterday afternoon on efforts to obtain humanitarian access in Syria since the passage earlier this year of Security Council resolution 2139 (2014). She added that the progress that has been made is still not enough. She added that humanitarian workers have faced considerable challenges in implementing resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014), and continue to fall short of meeting the humanitarian needs of all the people they need to reach in Syria.
Yesterday we issued a statement, in which the Secretary-General expressed deep concern over the recent escalation of violence in Libya, including the air strikes in Tripoli, Benghazi and the Nafousa Mountains.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, marked the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence by drawing attention to the hundreds of abducted women and girls who are suffering unspeakable abuses and atrocities by terrorist groups. He said that they are Iraq’s bleeding wound and pledged that the United Nations would continue to push to obtain their release and to support the Government of Iraq in its efforts to bring them back home.
The Secretary-General has announced the appointment of Abdou Dieng of Senegal as the Ebola Crisis Manager for Guinea, as part of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), succeeding Marcel Rudasingwa. In this role Mr. Dieng will continue the Mission’s work with the Government of Guinea, along with key stakeholders, in ensuring a rapid and effective international response to the Ebola crisis in the country.
On 24 November, in accordance with its Urgent Temporary Measures mandate and its support to the national authorities in their fight against impunity, the UN Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, arrested the well-known anti-Balaka leader “Chocolat” also known as “Choco” in Bangui.
As you will have seen in a readout we issued last night, the Secretary-General spoke yesterday over the telephone with Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine.
The Secretary-General today announced the members of a High-level Panel to advise on the organizational and operational aspects of the proposed Technology Bank and Science, Technology and Innovation Supporting Mechanism dedicated to the least developed countries (LDCs).
Nizar, you asked in recent days about the situation in Bahrain. As we have said here, the Secretary-General is following the situation in Bahrain closely.
It’s with deep sadness that we learned today of the death of our colleague, Michel Bonnardeaux, the Spokesperson and Chief of the Public Information Office in UNFICYP, the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus, and the Good Offices Mission in Cyprus.