Myanmar

A new United Nations report on Afghanistan has found that continued focus and efforts are needed to advance the nation’s anti-corruption reforms.  It describes how corruption there is eroding public trust and confidence in Government institutions and hindering efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the country.

As of yesterday, some 1,705 probable and confirmed cases of Ebola have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the outbreak was declared on 1 August 2018, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.  About 1,122 people, or two thirds of reported cases, have died since then.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a report today saying that the demand for sand has led to pollution, flooding, drought, beach erosion and reduced deposits in river deltas.  With global demands at 40-50 billion tonnes a year, UNEP warned that sand is being used faster than it can be replenished.

In Libya, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ghassan Salamé, continues his outreach to interlocutors, meeting with Government officials, a group of elders and tribal leaders to offer the United Nations full support to help thousands of civilians affected by heavy fighting in southern Tripoli.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says most Ebola response activities have been relaunched in Butembo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province following a slowdown caused by the attack that left Cameroonian doctor Richard Valéry Mouzoko dead and two other people injured.

Two jailed Reuters journalists from Myanmar will share the 2019 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s press freedom prize.  Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone were reporting on alleged human rights violations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State when they were arrested in December 2017.

With Bangladesh expecting its first monsoon of the year in the coming weeks, the United Nations refugee agency is ramping up emergency preparations and training of Rohingya refugees as first responders.  Last year, more than 740,000 refugees fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh experienced their first monsoon.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Nicholas Koumjian of the United States as Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said today that it is concerned that, according to its preliminary findings, an airstrike by international forces against the Taliban carried out overnight between Friday and Saturday in Kunduz killed 13 civilians, 10 of whom were children.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about armed clashes in the southern Philippines between the army and non-State armed groups that have uprooted more than 47,000 people.  The United Nations and humanitarian partners are helping the Government deliver aid to nearly 35,000 displaced people.