Central African Republic, Burundi & other topics…

we will have at 12:30 p.m. Ambassador [Vassily] Nebenzia, the President of the Security Council for the month of April, as a Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation.  He will brief you on the programme of work.

Tomorrow is the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Our guests will include Ambassador Sophea Eat, the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia; Ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland; Asako Okai, the Assistant Administrator and Head of the Crisis Bureau in UNDP; and of course, Ilene Cohn, the Director of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).

On the Central African Republic, our peacekeeping mission there, continues to provide the Government with technical, financial, logistical and security support to advance the national disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation process — which is a key component of the peace agreement.

Just south in Burundi, a quick update there, where earlier today, our humanitarian colleagues — together with the Government — launched an appeal for over $194 million to reach more than 1.1 million people with humanitarian assistance this year.

And moving down to the southern corner of Africa, in Malawi, we and our partners called over the weekend for $70 million to assist over 1 million people that have been impacted by the Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which hit last month.