Africa

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen said that negotiations held in Oman over the weekend led to a significant breakthrough, where the Yemeni parties reached an understanding on releasing Mohamed Qahtan, a prominent politician who has been held incommunicado by the Houthis since 2015.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development, in Cairo today:

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has started a joint operation with the Congolese Armed Forces to protect civilians in the Madombo and Itendey areas of Ituri Province, respectively controlled by the Zaire and CODECO armed groups.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says its operations are being severely hindered by the escalation of fighting in south and central Gaza, as well as the limited flow of humanitarian assistance and the lack of public order and safety in the south. Despite this, WFP has reached more than 766,000 people in Gaza with food in June.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today said it is stepping up support to assist some 8,000 Rohingya refugees who were affected on Wednesday by landslides in the Cox’s Bazar refugee settlement in Bangladesh.

Briefing the Security Council on the situation in Central Africa, a senior United Nations official said that the region has seen positive developments over the past six months, as Council members commended political progress in some countries of that region, while also recognizing their substantive political, economic and social challenges.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the ECOWAS @49: High-Level Event on “Regionalism, Democracy and Development in West Africa: Building Blocks to Strengthening Multilateralism”, today:

A new report released today by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that almost 3 million refugees worldwide will need resettlement in 2025. This is mainly driven by the emergence of new conflicts and the impacts of climate change.

Results from the Global We the Women survey, produced by the UN Office for Partnerships and the polling company John Zogby Strategies, show that 86 per cent of women from 185 countries cite climate change and more than 50 per cent identify conflict as primary concerns for the next decade.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the High-Level Session of the Africa Dialogue Series 2024: “Education through Science, Technology and Innovation towards the Africa We Want”, in New York today: