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Briefing by Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
Today, the Secretary-General called H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, to discuss the situation in Burundi.
Stephen O’Brien, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the Security Council on Syria this morning and said that, by any measure, the situation there has worsened since the beginning of the year. He estimated that some 13.5 million people in Syria are in need of some form of protection and humanitarian assistance throughout the country, an increase of some 1.2 million people in just ten months. More than six million of those in need are children. He added that there are now some 6.5 million people displaced inside Syria. In addition, nearly 4.2 million have fled the country, with neighbouring countries in the region bearing an enormous burden.
As a result of new donor support, the World Food Programme (WFP) has increased the value of electronic vouchers used to provide food assistance to extremely vulnerable Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon to an average of $21 per person per month, or 80 percent of the full intended value of the vouchers.
Anthony Lake, the Executive Director of UNICEF, said that the health facility reportedly attacked today in Saada, Yemen, is the 39th health centre hit since the violence escalated in March. Critical shortages of fuel, medications, electricity, petrol and water threaten to stop many more from operating.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that despite the ongoing conflict in Yemen, nearly 70,000 refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants – primarily from Ethiopia and Somalia – have arrived by boat in Yemen so far this year. More than half of these arrivals have been since the conflict erupted in March.
The UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has strongly condemned the attack yesterday in Bangui against a delegation of the Union pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC).
According to initial UN estimates, at least 7,000 families have suffered total or partial destruction of their homes in Sahrawi refugee camps due to unprecedented heavy rains causing catastrophic damage in Tindouf, Algeria.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the major impact of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan was in the provinces of Kunar, Takhar, Badakshan and Nangarkhar.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the UN has resumed aid operations in parts of Luhansk that are not under government control after a three-month suspension.
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) entitled Preventing youth violence: an overview of the evidence seeks to help policy-makers and planners – particularly in settings with limited human and financial resources – to address youth violence using an evidence-informed approach.
The Secretary-General and the African Union Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, today announced the appointment of Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi of Nigeria as Joint Special Representative for Darfur and Head of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
In another appointment, Bintou Keita of Guinea will take up the post of Deputy Joint Special Representative. Ms. Keita succeeds Abdul Kamara of Sierra Leone, to whom the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the AU are grateful for his dedicated service during his tenure with UNAMID.
Botswana has become the 137th Member State to pay its UN regular budget dues in full.
