The UN refugee agency said today that clashes in northern and central Mali have resulted in new population displacement — both within Mali and into neighbouring countries.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today expressed deep shock at the two attacks at the University of Aleppo, which killed more than 80 people, most of them students. She said it was truly shocking and distressing to see so many young people dedicated to pursuing their education in the midst of strife lose their lives to senseless violence.

The Secretary-General has appointed Ahmad Alhindawi of Jordan as his Envoy on Youth. He has also appointed Carl Alexandre of the United States as his Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, replacing Kevin Kennedy, who served in that position from April 2010 until December last year.

The Secretary-General is in California today, where he will speak at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is expected to call for progress on nuclear disarmament and to encourage the nuclear-armed States to come up with a bold set of measures to promote transparency about their nuclear arsenals.

The Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said today that ordinary people are paying a terrible price for the failure of the international community to agree steps to resolve the political crisis in Syria. She said in Davos, Switzerland, that aid efforts are not enough as the number of people in acute need continues to rise.

The Security Council has been meeting on Burundi this morning, and heard from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to that country, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. He said Burundi has travelled a long path out of the cycle of violence that plagued it for over four decades, and it is now essential that both the Government and opposition play their part in ensuring a continuing consensual approach to the challenges ahead.

With the help of troops deployed from around the region and the world, the Central African Republic was working to implement a three-pronged peace agreement recently signed with a coalition of rebel groups, the top United Nations official in that country said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Said Djinnit, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, briefed the Security Council this morning on recent challenges in the region, specifically in Mali and the Sahel. He said that, as hostilities are carried out in Mali, the situation there is an example of the fragility and vulnerability prevailing in the whole Sahel region.

The Secretary-General is wrapping up his visit today to Addis Ababa, where he attended the African Union Summit. In a press conference, he said that he sees Africa on the rise and welcomes progress on development, good governance and human rights. He also held several bilateral meetings and attended an event on combating malaria.