Central African Republic

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.

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 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.

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.

In Burkina Faso, nearly 6 million people are estimated to need assistance this year, according to the UN’s newly released 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which aims to help 3.7 million people in support of the transitional authority’s national plan.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the humanitarian needs of refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan to Egypt, in support of the ongoing response there, which has become host to some 1.2 million Sudanese refugees since last April.