Central African Republic

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, today and over the weekend, attacks have caused dozens of civilian casualties, including among children. Homes, schools and energy facilities have also sustained damage, impacting electricity supplies.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that over 1 million people in Myanmar will be cut off from food assistance, starting in April, due to critical funding shortages. The cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally displaced people in Rakhine, who will have no access to food without WFP assistance.

The Secretary-General will convene the two Cypriot leaders and the Guarantor Powers of Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom for an informal meeting in Geneva from 17 to 18 March, which will provide an opportunity for a meaningful discussion on the way forward on the Cyprus issue.

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.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Food Programme has partially resumed food assistance in parts of Goma, delivering vital nutrition supplies to treat moderate acute malnutrition in children, and plans to resume operations fully as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Central African Republic has made significant progress towards the 2025 elections, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country told the Security Council today, while also noting overall security improvements and persistent fragility in border areas.

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 following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Fu Cong (China):

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

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today published a report which says air pollution in East Asia and the Pacific is linked to nearly one in four deaths of children under the age of five and can impact every stage of a child’s life.