Children in the Horn of Africa are living through an unprecedented large-scale crisis of hunger, displacement, water scarcity and insecurity, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned today. Over 7 million under the age of 5 remain malnourished and over 1.9 million are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition.

Today marks three years since the death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  As the current Secretary-General said, Kofi was one-of-a-kind, a man who embodied United Nations values.  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that, on this day three years ago, the world lost one of its moral voices.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Yesim Oruc of Turkey as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guyana, with the host Government’s approval.

In Zimbabwe, 2.4 million people are struggling to meet their basic food needs due to the impact of COVID-19, the World Food Programme reports.  It is delivering monthly cash transfers to 326,000 people across 32 urban areas, and aims to reach 550,000 people in the 28 worst-affected, food-insecure urban areas in the country.

The new Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, paid a courtesy call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s video message on the occasion of the Spotlight Initiative high-level launch event for the Guyana country programme titled “Sustainable Development Goals Decade of Action — End Gender-based Violence and Family Violence for Unity, Equality and Dignity in Guyana”, held today:

The new Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, presented her credentials to the Secretariat today.

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is warning of life-threatening consequences if annual monsoon preparations cannot be completed.  A lockdown is in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, making supply delivery more challenging.

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

The United Nations is following with concern the latest developments in Guyana, particularly allegations that the tabulation of votes from Region 4 was not done according to proper legal procedures, and takes note of statements of concern issued by international observers and ambassadors accredited to Georgetown.