Middle East

The World Food Programme said today it has begun providing emergency food aid to vulnerable people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and urgently needs $170 million to meet critical food and nutrition needs over the next six months.  The agency noted that the outbreak of conflict there coincided with the peak harvest period.

Cabo Verde has received 24,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the global COVAX facility – the first of 100,000 doses expected by May – according to United Nations staff in the country, who called the shipment a source of hope and a testimony to global solidarity.

United Nations Children’s Fund Representative (UNICEF) in Nigeria Peter Hawkins calls on those responsible for the mass abduction of girls from a State-run school in Zamfara to release them immediately and for the Government to take steps to ensure their safe release and the safety of other schoolchildren in the country.

Upcoming elections, currently being organized by both Israelis and Palestinians and slated to be held in 2021, will help to clear a crucial path towards restoring a legitimate political horizon in the Middle East, the senior United Nations official responsible for the peace process told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting today.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today launched the Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative, with 15 leading airlines supporting the prioritization of the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical supplies.

The period following the start of Afghanistan’s peace negotiations in September 2020 has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of human rights defenders and media professionals killed in the country, a new report issued today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has asked for $1.5 billion to fund its education, health, social services, infrastructure and other essential services, as well as emergency appeals and priority projects for 2021.

The United Nations team in Indonesia is supporting efforts to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population, over 216 million people, against COVID-19.  Work has begun to bring the country into the COVAX facility, and the World Health Organization helped finalize a vaccine introduction road map and guidelines.

Following is the transcript of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ press conference, held in New York today:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports rising hunger and malnutrition in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where months of conflict have worsened a dire situation caused by COVID-19 and locusts.  Nearly 80 per cent of hospitals in Tigray are not functional, according to the World Health Organization.