The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid was dispatched to Somalia in July. Today, the World Food Programme started a series of nine airlifts to Kenya, carrying a total of 800 metric tons of high-energy biscuits for delivery throughout the Horn of Africa.

In the Republic of Korea, the Secretary-General thanked the Government for helping to fund UN food relief operations in the Horn of Africa. Because of the country’s economic development and democratization, he said, the international community was increasingly looking to it in addressing global challenges.

Even as the withdrawal of militant Al-Shabaab forces marked a critical opportunity to reach Mogadishu’s starving population, fresh challenges — including insufficient manpower — now threatened humanitarian operations, said top officials during a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General, at the Global Model UN Conference in the Republic of Korea, told hundreds of students from more than 60 countries not to underestimate the power of the individual to make a difference; they were showing increasing resolve to change our world — a capacity to make things happen, by peaceful means.

The second of three planned humanitarian flights by UNHCR landed in Mogadishu, the capital of famine-hit Somalia, this morning. The plane unloaded a 32-ton consignment of shelter and other aid items. The agency is expecting to send another flight into Mogadishu tomorrow.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has released its report on alleged violations of international law, including crimes against humanity, in South Kordofan perpetrated in June. Meanwhile, High Commissioner Navi Pillay is calling for an independent and objective inquiry, aimed at holding perpetrators to account.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reports that there are some 875,000 Somali refugees and asylum seekers in neighbouring countries, with Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia and Djibouti hosting more than 90 per cent of them. About 1.5 million more Somalis are internally displaced, mostly in the country’s south-central region.

While humanitarian aid was reaching hundreds of thousands in the drought-devastated Horn of Africa, a still more extensive scale-up was needed, said the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator at a Headquarters press conference today.

Speaking by phone yesterday with Syria’s President, the Secretary-General voiced alarm at the latest reports of excessive use of force by Syrian security forces against civilians. He stressed the need to immediately halt all military operations and mass arrests. The President said the military and police operations had stopped.

Marking World Humanitarian Day this morning, top United Nations officials recognized the sacrifices made by humanitarian workers around the globe, but stressed that it was also critical to use the event to redouble efforts to help those currently suffering in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere.