Lebanon

On the borders along the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, United Nations peacekeepers report that they continue to carry out their tasks, including patrols and other activities, amid daily exchanges of fire along the Line.

The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Mali was launched Thursday in Bamako. The United Nations and its humanitarian partners will need over $700 million to assist more than 4.1 million people across the country this year to complement response activities implemented by national authorities.

The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti released today seeks $674 million to help 3.6 million people across the country, where the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the press, in New York today:

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General informed that the first phase of the disengagement of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from South Kivu has begun, with a plan to complete its withdrawal from the area by June 2024.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed today its deep concern over the recent arbitrary arrests and detentions of women and girls by the country’s de facto authorities because of their alleged non-compliance with the hijab decree.

In South Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is extremely concerned about the well-being of refugees and returnees fleeing the current hostilities in Sudan — as South Sudan continues to see an influx of new arrivals from across the border.

In Syria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today expressed concern about the impact on civilians of escalating hostilities in the north-west of the country — as well as the potential for the violence to jeopardize cross-border missions by United Nations staff.

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

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about the plight of civilians during the winter as, yet again today, there was another wave of attacks in the Kherson and Odesa regions. These attacks damaged critical civilian infrastructure, including homes, a hospital and a school.