Somalia

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.

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

One in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from as communities brace for a harsh winter, the World Food Programme warns. The agency can only reach the most desperate families due to a huge funding shortfall and urgently needs $670 million to reach 15.2 million people.

Recognizing the benchmarks reached on implementing the security transition, the Somalia Transition Plan and the national security architecture, the Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution lifting the arms embargo on the Federal Government of Somalia.

In Somalia, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator there, George Conway — together with the Government and the Somali non-governmental organization consortium — have jointly warned that the country is in the midst of a disaster as devastating rains and floods continue to spread.

The Secretary-General launched the 2023 United Nations Environment Programme Emissions Gap report, warning that if nothing changes, in 2030 emissions will be 22 gigatons higher than the 1.5°C limit will allow and roughly the total annual emissions of the United States, China and the European Union combined.

The Security Council today extended its authorization of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) until 30 June 2024 and renewed, until 1 December 2023, certain provisions of its sanctions regime relating to Al-Shabaab.

In Niger, the UN Humanitarian Air Service has been given permission to resume domestic and humanitarian flights service, which will facilitate the uninterrupted and secure delivery of nearly 2.4 metric tons of cargo monthly, mostly essential medical supplies for people in need.

The United Nations has released $25 million to cope with the effects of once-in-a-century flooding in Somalia, including $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund and $15 million from the Somalia Humanitarian Fund, all which is supporting work to save lives, stem disease outbreaks and address food insecurity.