Libya

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the launch of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, held today:

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the Food Coalition, a multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral alliance that aims to ensure global food access and increase the resilience of agri-food systems.  The pandemic could add 132 million more people to the world's undernourished in 2020, FAO says, on top of the 690 million hungry people in 2019.

In Nicaragua, UNICEF and its partners have prepositioned emergency supplies and developed a joint response plan to address the needs of families impacted by Hurricane Eta, including 10,000 people evacuated from the northern coast, while the World Food Programme has positioned 80 metric tons of food assistance in the region.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Alain Noudéhou, has condemned the killing on 29 October of an aid worker in the greater Pibor area, stressing that it is unacceptable that eight humanitarian workers have already lost their lives this year in South Sudan while providing aid to people in need.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vassily A. Nebenzia (Russian Federation):

Honduras deposited the fiftieth instrument of ratification to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, resulting in it being entered into force in January 2021.  The Secretary-General said the Treaty is a commitment towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, which is the Organization’s highest disarmament priority.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that following unprecedented floods in Sudan, affecting 875,000 people, a secondary health emergency has put 4.5 million at risk of vector-borne diseases.  Efforts are now addressing supply needs, amid funding shortages in the Humanitarian Response Plan.

In South‑East Asia, severe, widespread flooding and landslides due to recent heavy rains have killed more than 100 people and displaced over 111,000, according to the United Nations, which is working with partners in Viet Nam to assess affected areas and support the Government’s aid response by providing food and other items.

The fourth round of the Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks began at the Palais des Nations in Geneva this morning, with the participation of Stephanie Williams, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya.  The deliberations in this round will continue until 24 October.

The United Nations migration agency and the African Union launched their first‑ever report on African migration, showing that present-day African migration takes place mainly by land, not by sea, and that migrants’ destinations are overwhelmingly each other’s countries and not Europe or North America.