Middle East

The Food and Agriculture Organization launched a $1.06 billion appeal to help vulnerable communities in 26 countries fight hunger, seeking to reach 30 million people who rely on agriculture and have been affected by climate-related shocks, notably in Bangladesh, Somalia and Yemen.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Jamie McGoldrick of Ireland as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He succeeds Robert Piper of Australia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service.

Emergency fuel for critical facilities in Gaza will become exhausted within 10 days, the acting United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned today.  Currently, the nearly 2 million Palestinian residents there receive electricity for no more than eight hours a day.

Global consensus on the question of Palestine could be eroding, making it more difficult to achieve concerted action at a time when it was more important than ever, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Palestinian Rights Committee as it opened its 2018 session.

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks at the opening of the 2018 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and United Nations Development Programme Head Achim Steiner are in Somalia to bring attention to the recently launched $1.5 billion aid appeal to avert famine and build resilience in the country.  Some 5.4 million people need life-saving humanitarian assistance.

The Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya launched the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan to support the humanitarian needs of 940,000 people living in the country.  The Plan seeks $313 million in donor funding to implement 71 projects by 21 humanitarian organizations.

Twenty-five years after the historic Oslo Accords, the United Nations had fallen into a pattern of managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than resolving it, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, underscoring the Organization’s responsibility to help the sides return to negotiations and quickly show results.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed today to donors after they were forced to reduce food rations and cash assistance for more than 100,000 refugees in Rwanda.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) reported that a patrol hit a suspected improvised explosive device in Kidal city, wounding one peacekeeper on 18 December.  The incident follows four separate attacks against peacekeeping personnel and premises in Kidal on 15 December.