On 11 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Elena Panova of Bulgaria as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt, with the host Government’s approval.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Somalia, more than 150,000 people have fled their homes since late June — including 230,000 in the last week alone — due to flooding in the south.  Some 650,000 people across the country having been displaced by heavy rains since January, with many now living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters.  Food is in short supply and many are going hungry.

An agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is within reach, with the United Nations standing ready to support talks and the African Union-led process to settle remaining differences, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council in a 29 June videoconference meeting.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations and the Government of Bangladesh are making preparations as Super Cyclone Storm Amphan approaches landfall tomorrow, potentially impacting more than 14 million people in the country.  The Humanitarian Coordination Task Team and the Government are working on preparedness and response activities.

Almost 300,000 people in Burkina Faso have been forced to flee their homes since last December and nearly 766,000 in total are displaced as of today.  More than half the internally displaced have inadequate shelter or none at all, and $10 million has been allocated from the Central Emergency Fund to help them.

The International Organization of Migration today launched a $10 million appeal to support recovery efforts in the Bahamian islands of Abaco and Grand Bahamas, which were hit by Hurricane Dorian in September.  The funds will be used to assist shelters, provide non-food items and track missing persons.

The United Nations welcomed the decision by the Government of Colombia to grant nationality to Venezuelan refugee children born in the country to Venezuelan parents.  The measure will benefit more than 24,000 children born since August 2015 who were at risk of statelessness.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Joanna Wronecka (Poland):