The Secretary-General will depart New York on Tuesday evening for Sochi in the Russian Federation. On Friday, he will take part in the opening of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He will also hold bilateral meetings with world leaders attending the Games. He plans to return to New York on Saturday, 8 February.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General is in Munich, where he will have a trilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United States Secretary of State John Kerry. Tomorrow, he will address the Munich Security Conference and talk to other high-level officials there. He will also attend a meeting of the Middle East Quartet at the principals level.
Wrapping up her three-day visit to South Sudan today, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, told reporters that, so far, aid workers — subjected to violence — have assisted more than 300,000 displaced people, but continuing insecurity has prevented their access to many others.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the humanitarian community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is concerned about the impact of violence on civilians in Katanga Province. It reports that there are now 400,000 displaced people in the province, up from 50,000 three months ago. Since October 2013, more than 700 houses in 20 villages have been attacked.
The joint mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations reported a further shipment of chemical weapons materials from Syria. The weapons were verified by joint mission personnel before being loaded in Lattakia port onto Danish and Norwegian cargo vessels.
The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement on cessation of hostilities signed yesterday in Addis Ababa by the Government of South Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in opposition. He congratulates the Intergovernmental Authoriy on Development on the successful mediation of this agreement and underscores the necessity to continue a national political dialogue to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees [in the Near East] is leading a three-day social media campaign, reaching tens of millions of people around the world to demand that the parties to the Syria conflict allow aid to flow to Yarmouk, the besieged Damascus key area hosting Palestine refugees in Syria.
Jamal Benomar, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Yemen, congratulated the Yemeni people for concluding the National Dialogue Conference today, which he called a historic moment for Yemen. He also strongly condemned the assassination of Ahmed Sharafuddine, the Ansar Allah delegate to the Conference, today in Sana’a.
The Secretary-General is dismayed by developments regarding participation in the Geneva Conference on Syria, set to begin Wednesday. Some key participants have conditioned their acceptance on the inclusion or exclusion of other delegations. Iran, despite assurances, has made a disappointing public statement that suggests it does not accept the basis for the conference.
On Monday, 20 January, the Secretary-General will depart New York for Montreux, where he will convene the Geneva Conference on Syria. He views the Conference as a unique opportunity for ending the violence. He also hopes that the transition foreseen in the Geneva communiqué of 30 June 2012 can be implemented in a way that fully meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.