Afghanistan

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Karen Pierce (United Kingdom):

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that volcanic activity on Vanuatu’s Ambae Island, which has a population of more than 10,000 people, has intensified in the last few weeks.  The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has called for the immediate compulsory evacuation of Ambae residents to the neighbouring island of Maewo.

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

The Food and Agriculture Organization appealed today for $120 million to reach 3.6 million people urgently requiring humanitarian and agricultural aid.  A new FAO report identifies the world’s most underfunded crises, including Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria — all hit by drought — monsoon‑affected Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, as well as Iraq, Myanmar and the Sahel.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees condemned the attack on its compound in South Sudan's north-western town of Bunj, in which two United Nations staff were injured when demonstrators forcefully entered the premises and looted offices and residences.  Peacekeepers were immediately deployed to re-establish order.

The Security Council noted today the conclusion of the voter registration process in Afghanistan on 18 July, in which 8.9 million people registered — including more than 3 million women — to vote in parliamentary and district council elections on 20 October 2018, and in presidential elections in 2019.

The Human Rights Office says it is deeply concerned at reports that the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar-Abu al Helu is to be demolished by the Israeli authorities in the coming days.  The community is home to 181 people,  more than half of them children.

In Syria, intense air and ground‑based strikes continuing over the weekend in multiple areas in Dara’a Governorate have led to the largest displacement — an estimated 270,000 people — since the conflict began in 2011, according to our humanitarian colleagues.

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

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Olof Skoog (Sweden):