Ethiopia

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayeh and Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Lucia Elmi launched a $417 million Humanitarian Response Plan to help 1.8 million people over the coming year. The latest assessment found that 2.45 million Palestinians - 47 per cent of the population - need aid.

Ethiopia is facing dire shortages of food, water, fuel, cash and electricity, as well as telecoms services in the Tigray region, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  More than 63,000 people are recorded as internally displaced in Tigray, including some who fled towards Afar and Amhara.

Children make up nearly half the people who have fled Ethiopia’s Tigray region for Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.  Their most urgent needs are clean water and sanitation, as well as child-protection and gender-based violence services for the most vulnerable and at-risk refugees, the agency says.

This morning, David Beasley, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his organization’s behalf.  With 270 million people approaching starvation and only $5 billion needed to save 30 million from famine, he said, in the Nobel spirit of peace and brotherhood, let’s feed them all.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon reports that a contingent of the Mission’s Force Commander Reserve unit distributed 4,000 educational kits to 30 schools and started renovations to school buildings in southern Lebanon.  Also delivered were 1 million masks, half a billion N95 masks with respirators and almost 50 ventilators, among other items.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched its largest ever humanitarian appeal, $818 million, to fund critical assistance for 54 million women, girls and young people in 68 countries, including for sexual and reproductive health care as well as services to prevent gender-based violence.

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

More than 47,000 Ethiopians have arrived in Sudan seeking safety, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.  A small number of Eritrean refugees also arrived from Tigray.  UNHCR and Sudanese authorities have now moved more than 11,000 refugees 70 kilometres from the Ethiopian border.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today issued its largest ever emergency funding appeal, seeking $6.4 billion to reach 300 million people, including more than 190 million children.  An estimated 36 million children, more than ever before, are living in displacement due to conflict, violence and disaster.

The Federal Government of Ethiopia and the United Nations present in the country have signed an agreement to enable unimpeded, sustained and secure access for humanitarian personnel and services in areas under the control of the Federal Government in Tigray, along with the bordering areas of Amhara and Afar regions.