Afghanistan

A new report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) underscores the need to cut global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.  By contrast, recent data reveal that emissions are currently on track to increase by 16 per cent over 2010 levels by that date.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General’s video message to the twentieth Summit of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held today:

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) announced today a decision by the Secretariat to repatriate all Gabonese military units, effective immediately, following credible reports of sexual abuse by Gabon’s contingent deployed to the Mission.

Ahead of the historic Food Systems Summit on 23 September, the Secretary-General emphasized the moral imperative of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, stressing that a well-functioning food system can help prevent conflict, protect the environment and provide health and livelihoods for all.  “In food, there is hope,” he said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will be forced to suspend food aid delivery to more than 100,000 displaced people in parts of South Sudan, beginning in October, due to funding shortfalls.  It warned that further cuts may be inevitable if an additional $154 million is not raised in the next four months.  

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the high‑level meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, in Geneva today:

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ press conference, held in New York today:

Food insecurity in Somalia is set to increase until the end of 2021 due to the impacts of poor rainfall and continued insecurity, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.  FAO said approximately 1.2 million children under the age of five are likely to be acutely malnourished during that period.

The newly formed interim government in Afghanistan includes neither women nor minority leaders, but contains many figures who are on the United Nations Sanctions List, speakers in the Security Council said today, urging the now‑ruling Taliban to live up to their promises and establish a more inclusive and representative administration.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared an outbreak of meningitis in Tshopo Province, in the country’s north-east, with some 261 suspected cases, including 129 deaths.  National health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team and efforts are under way to quickly ramp up the response.