The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, briefed the Security Council this morning. He said Somalis desperately need improved security. He also stressed the need to conclude the constitutional process and said that legislation needs to be set in motion for the constitutional and electoral processes.

In a statement we issued this morning, with the conflict in Syria now entering its fourth year, the Secretary-General appealed to all to reflect upon the long and growing list of horrors taking place in Syria every day. Syria is now the biggest humanitarian and peace and security crisis facing the world, with violence reaching unthinkable levels. Syria’s neighbours are bearing the increasingly unbearable humanitarian, security, political and socioeconomic effects of this conflict.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative for Syria, briefed the Security Council in consultations this morning on the diplomatic efforts involving the Syrian parties. Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General and Mr. Brahimi will speak to Member States in an informal plenary of the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General continues to closely follow the situation in Ukraine. He is deeply disappointed and concerned that the Crimea referendum will only exacerbate this situation. He encourages all parties to work for a solution guided by the principles of the United Nations Charter, and condemns the violence which occurred over the weekend in eastern Ukraine and which resulted in injuries and loss of life on all sides.

Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefing the Security Council today on the Middle East, said the fragile status quo between Israelis and Palestinians is not sustainable. On Syria, he said the situation in the Golan remains volatile, with heavy clashes between Syrian armed forces and armed opposition.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said today that intercommunal hatred remains at a terrifying level in the Central Africa Republic. She said at a press conference in Bangui that although large-scale killings appear to have halted for the time being, people continue to be killed on a daily basis.

The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin, said today that the exodus of almost 300,000 people from the Central African Republic is creating a regional crisis in neighbouring countries that were already short of food. Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congo are themselves confronted with food insecurity and malnutrition.

The Secretary-General, at The Hague today, along with more than 50 Heads of State, said that nuclear security remains a pressing concern, not least the risk of nuclear terrorism.

During the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the Secretary-General held several bilateral meetings, including with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte and Frans Timmermans; Queen Máxima of the Netherlands; and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. Discussions centred on the situations in Ukraine and Syria, as well as on the Central African Republic.