Africa

The new Permanent Observer for the Pan-African Intergovernmental Agency for Water and Sanitation for Africa, Nabhit Kapur, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war. According to UNICEF, armed men are raping and sexually assaulting children, including infants as young as one, amid the nationwide conflict.

Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s message, as prepared for delivery, on the occasion of the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Banks Meeting Session II: International Financial Architecture, held in Cape Town, South Africa, today:

In Somalia, some 3.4 million people are already experiencing crisis-levels of hunger. This figure is expected to rise to 4.4 million between April and June when below-average rains are forecast. However, the $1.42 billion humanitarian appeal is only 12 per cent funded.

The United Nations and its aid partners in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have launched this year’s Humanitarian Response Plans to assist 2.2 million people in need, seeking a total of $306 million.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the African Union Summit, held today in Addis Ababa:

In Sudan, the total number of newly displaced people in Shamal Jabal Marrah, in Central Darfur State, reached over 120,000, after hostilities over the past week in Zamzam in North Darfur state caused about 5,500 people to seek safety and shelter there, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports.

In Syria, over the past two days, 77 trucks carrying UN food, health supplies, blankets and other aid have crossed from Türkiye to Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, bring the number of trucks crossing from Türkiye to 200 this year — more than triple the amount compared to the same time last year.

In Gaza, the World Food Programme (WFP) says that 25 WFP-supported bakeries are now operating across the territory. WFP also notes that every week, dozens of kitchens are providing hundreds of thousands of hot meals to people across the Strip. In the north, WFP is working to further expand capacity.

The UN Human Rights Office today released a report which says that Bangladesh’s former Government, security and intelligence services, as well as violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests.