Democratic Republic of the Congo

At least 53 Palestinian detainees are known to have died in Israeli military facilities and prisons since last October, according to a UN human rights office report published today on arbitrary, prolonged and incommunicado detentions, impacting thousands of Palestinians, including UN staff.

In Ethiopia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN agencies are conducting a humanitarian assessment today of the displacement and damage caused by heavy rains and landslides impacting over 14,000 people, with the aim of bringing food, medicine and water, sanitation and hygiene support.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN peacekeepers provided training to 400 new recruits of the Congolese Armed Forces to better equip them to respond to the abuses committed against civilians by armed groups in hard-to-reach areas.

The UN, along with humanitarian aid partners, last night launched a response plan calling for $9 million to support 43,000 people impacted by Hurricane Beryl in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Immediate action is crucial, particularly in light of what is expected to be a very intense hurricane season.

A careful, incremental approach is vital to the three-phase withdrawal of the longstanding United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, speakers told the Security Council today, stressing the need to avoid a domestic security vacuum and the regional spillover of conflict between the Government forces and other armed groups.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen said that negotiations held in Oman over the weekend led to a significant breakthrough, where the Yemeni parties reached an understanding on releasing Mohamed Qahtan, a prominent politician who has been held incommunicado by the Houthis since 2015.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has started a joint operation with the Congolese Armed Forces to protect civilians in the Madombo and Itendey areas of Ituri Province, respectively controlled by the Zaire and CODECO armed groups.

Burkina Faso is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with 6.3 million people in need of support and protection, but the $935 million Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 is only 17 per cent funded. The UN and its partners are working supporting Government efforts to meet immediate needs.

The Security Council decided today to renew the sanctions regime concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 July 2025, and the mandate of the corresponding Group of Experts until 1 August 2025.

Following the completion of a technical assessment, the Secretariat of the United Nations has responded positively to a request of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela to deploy a UN Panel of Electoral Experts for the July 2024 presidential elections there.