Democratic Republic of the Congo

In Ukraine, United Nations humanitarian partners said that intense hostilities were reported over the weekend, across Government and non-Government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today awarded the Population Award for an individual to its youngest‑ever recipient, Emma Theofelus, a 25-year-old Parliamentarian from Namibia for her work advocating for women’s empowerment and adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

The Security Council today welcomed the recent positive political developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region and the convening of the second Regional Heads of State Conclave on the Democratic Republic of Congo in Nairobi, Kenya, on 21 April.

The first commercial flight flew out of Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport to Cairo, Egypt today.  The flight is the seventh flight operating under the terms of the United Nations-brokered two-month nationwide truce and represents an important element of that truce.

Marking World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report highlighting the tobacco industry’s carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco, noting that it is equivalent to one fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year.

With a brutal history of violence now threatening to repeat itself in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, senior officials briefing the Security Council today urged members to lend their steadfast support to regional efforts aimed at curbing the resurgence of militia attacks in the country’s eastern provinces, while warning of dire humanitarian implications for the broader Great Lakes region.

In northern Ethiopia, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are continuing to provide assistance across Tigray, Afar and Amhara.  Since the resumption of convoys at the beginning of April, 875 trucks have arrived in Tigray, carrying more than 32,800 tons of supplies, including food.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Linda Thomas-Greenfield (United States):

For the first time on record, the number of forcibly displaced people around the world had topped 100 million, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports. 

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed its serious concern about armed clashes on Sunday involving indiscriminate fire and alleged use of heavy weapons in the Janzour area, a densely populated neighbourhood of Tripoli.  The current mobilization of forces by different armed groups creates tensions and increases the risk of clashes.