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

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Cairo from Tunis early on Monday evening, 1 April.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme and the European Union, finds that 113 million people in 53 countries experienced acute food insecurity in 2018, down slightly from 124 million in 2017.  Nearly two thirds of those suffering are in just eight countries.

In Bangkok, the Climate Change Conference ended on 9 September with an urgent call for accelerated climate action.  The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary said that the Conference had resulted in “uneven progress” on the guidelines to implement the Paris Agreement.

The new Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock today approved the largest-ever allocation by the Central Emergency Response Fund — $50 million — to rapidly bolster aid for Yemen.  The humanitarian situation there has deteriorated despite recent progress in opening key Red Sea ports to food and fuel shipments.

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

The Secretary-General, in a message to the United Nations Environment Assembly opening in Nairobi today, said that solutions to prevent, mitigate and manage pollution existed, and that beating pollution would help reduce poverty, improve health, create decent jobs, address climate change and protect life on earth and sea.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that refugees fleeing militia violence in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and arriving in Zambia have crossed the 12,000 mark, with 80 per cent of them women and children, driven out by extreme brutality of rampaging militias.

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