Kenya


The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it would cut food rations by 30 per cent for the 420,000 refugees living in Dadaab and Kakuma camps in northern Kenya due to insufficient funding.  WFP urgently needs $28.5 million to adequately cover the food assistance needs for the refugees over the next six months.

The United Nations Environment Programme is launching a campaign to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol and its success in protecting Earth against ozone depletion.  The “Ozone Heroes” campaign seeks to raise awareness of collective efforts to tackle climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer.

Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), condemned the killing of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, shot outside her home on Tuesday.  Ms. Lankesh, editor and publisher of a Kannada-language weekly, was an outspoken critic of right-wing extremism.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners have begun relocating more than 33,000 Congolese refugees from over-crowded reception centres in northern Angola to a newly established settlement in Lóvua, some 100 kilometres further inland, where they will all receive a plot of land on which to build shelters and grow food.

The Secretary-General called on all national stakeholders in Kenya to renew their commitment to credible and peaceful elections, as well as their confidence in the institutions constitutionally mandated to conduct them.  He underlined the importance of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Aid workers in Iraq are preparing to bring water, hygiene, sanitation, food and emergency medical care to those in need ahead of the anticipated military campaign to retake the Da’esh-held town of Telafar, some 60 kilometres west of Mosul.  Some 60,000 people are believed to remain trapped in the city and its environs.

The Secretary-General said that he has been following the situation in Syria closely and with grave concern.  Mindful of the risk of escalation — following reports of the United States air strikes against the Shayrat Airbase in Syria — he appealed for restraint to avoid any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian people.