Cyprus

Almost 3,000 migrants were rescued yesterday, after trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration, which said several ships were involved in more than a dozen rescue operations.  The total number of casualties is not yet known.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that the Central African Republic counts among the world’s most forgotten crises, receiving ever-shrinking humanitarian funding.  With half its people needing humanitarian aid and more than 2 million hungry, WFP’s humanitarian response plan for 2017 is only 7 per cent financed.

In Geneva, the Secretary-General called the pledging conference for Yemen a considerable success, with more than half of the $2.1 billion appeal for the year reached.  Those pledges now needed to be translated into effective support for the people of Yemen.  Three things would ensure that:  access, access and access.

The International Organization for Migration warned today that hundreds of migrants are being held under “slave market” conditions in North Africa.  Describing the situation as “dire”, the agency also reported several cases in which migrants have been kidnapped in exchange for ransom.

Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akıncı, and Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, held an open and constructive exchange about the challenges experienced over the last months.  The leaders reconfirmed their commitment to finding a solution in the best interest of all Cypriots.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and the Government of Uganda jointly appealed urgently today for massive support for the thousands of refugees from South Sudan who continue to arrive in Uganda daily.  Uganda already hosts more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees, including 572,000 new arrivals.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien travelled to Somalia today to assess the impact of the drought which has left the country on the brink of famine.  He met with humanitarian partners to discuss ways to scale up the response to save lives, and called on all parties to step up efforts to facilitate increased humanitarian access.

United Nations staff in Yemen report that the first humanitarian truck from Ibb since August 2016 arrived in Taizz City today with eight tonnes of medicines and medical equipment, after authorities blocked a visit by United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien to Taizz City on 28 February.

The new Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations, Komelios Korneliou, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2017 today, while encouraging the divided island nation’s leaders to “grasp the current opportunity” of recent progress in negotiations to secure a comprehensive settlement of the dispute between them.