Noting that “little meaningful progress” had been made in implementing South Sudan’s landmark 2015 peace agreement, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official called on the warring parties today urgently to embark on peaceful negotiations and compromise to “bring the country back from the impending abyss”.
Having reviewed the implementation of measures outlined in resolution 2255 (2015) on its sanctions against Taliban affiliates, the Security Council stated today that no further adjustments were necessary “at this time”.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is delivering emergency supplies to some 200,000 people in northwest Bangladesh after massive floods inundated more than half the country. Many survivors have lost everything. Nearly 7 million people have been affected by the floods; more than 580,000 hectares of crop land has been destroyed.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Jane Connors of Australia as the first Victims’ Rights Advocate for the United Nations.
In Ethiopia, the fifth round of food distributions has reached 330,000 of the targeted 3.3 million people in the Somali region, where successive failed rains have exacerbated the food insecurity crisis. The ongoing distributions are expected to be completed by mid-September.
Against the backdrop of heightened tensions and multiple violent incidents in and around Jerusalem — as well as a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip — the top United Nations political affairs official today urged the parties to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict to recommit to ending the occupation of Palestinian lands and realizing a two-State solution.
The eleventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names and the thirtieth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names concluded on 17 and 18 August, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
In Afghanistan, the United Nations Mission there has verified allegations that Taliban and local self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/Daesh fighters killed at least 36 people, including civilians, during an attack on 5 August in the Mirza Olang village of Sari Pul province. The Mission’s findings were released as part of its human rights report.
The 2017 United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament begins today at the United Nations Office at Geneva with the participation of young diplomats and other Government officials from 25 United Nations Member States.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
