Central African Republic

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 Karen Pierce (United Kingdom):

On 20 July 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2127 (2013) concerning the Central African Republic held informal consultations to consider the midterm report of the Panel of Experts submitted pursuant to paragraph 32 (c) of resolution 2399 (2018).

The United Nations refugee agency said today that more than 2,000 Somalis have returned home from Yemen since 2017, as part of an assistance programme carried out jointly with the International Organization for Migration and authorities in Yemen and Somalia.  Yemen currently hosts more than 270,000 refugees, the vast majority of them Somalis.

United Nations humanitarian officials say violent protests in Ethiopia’s Somali region have led to at least 29 deaths, and that houses of worship, homes and businesses have been attacked and destroyed.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that some 22,000 households were already provided with emergency supplies, but more than 150,000 still need assistance.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says today that, three months after the violence started in Nicaragua, an estimated 280 people have died and 1,830 have been injured, in violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by the State and by pro-Government armed elements.  Those killed include at least 19 police officers.

The Security Council, strongly condemning the rise of incitement to ethnic and religious hatred and violence in the Central African Republic — as well as manipulated hostility towards the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and other international actors — today adopted a presidential statement urging armed groups to cease all forms of violence, lay down their arms and engage constructively in the country’s evolving peace process.

On 22 June 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2127 (2013) concerning the Central African Republic held informal consultations to consider briefings by the National Commission to Combat the Illicit Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons of Côte d’Ivoire, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) on weapons and ammunition management in the country.

Today is the International Day of the Tropics.  As you know, the Tropics are the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and host approximately 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and much of its language and cultural diversity.

Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, says cholera tops the list of concerns over Hodeidah, an epicentre of the 2017 outbreak, among the worst in modern history.  Meanwhile, 25 per cent of children in the city are suffering from acute malnutrition, and without nutritional support, 100,000 will be at risk.