The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
In progress at UNHQ
Nigeria
After decades of displacement, 93 refugees in Thailand have returned to south-eastern Myanmar with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, reports that the situation in Bangui is calm following violence in the capital yesterday, but in a subsequent attack, two MINUSCA Military Staff Officers were wounded, one seriously, after a crowd pelted them with stones.
The World Food Programme today airlifted life-saving, nutrient-dense biscuits from its Humanitarian Depot in Dubai to Papua New Guinea. The plane carried enough food to feed approximately 60,000 people. More than 270,000 people require humanitarian aid since a devastating earthquake struck the country in February.
Humanitarian operations for over 800,000 people have resumed in Rann town, in Nigeria’s Borno State following several United Nations security assessments, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. However, aid workers have not yet been authorized to stay overnight.
A United Nations human rights office report issued today states there are strong grounds to believe that some of the people detained in Mexico in the early stages of the investigation into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students were arbitrarily detained and tortured and those serious violations were covered up.
The Secretary-General is encouraged by the announcement of an agreement between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to hold a summit meeting by May. He reiterates his support for all efforts towards peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
In Syria, a United Nations‑Syrian Arab Red Crescent‑International Committee of the Red Cross inter‑agency convoy entered Douma, in besieged eastern Ghouta, for the first time since 15 November 2017. Teams delivered food for 27,500 people, along with health and nutrition supplies, while fighting and air strikes continued.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Karel Jan Gustaaf van Oosterom (Netherlands):