Peacekeeping

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen said that negotiations held in Oman over the weekend led to a significant breakthrough, where the Yemeni parties reached an understanding on releasing Mohamed Qahtan, a prominent politician who has been held incommunicado by the Houthis since 2015.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reports that 311 weapons collected from former combatants were handed over to the Government on Tuesday as part of the National Programme for Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Repatriation.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has started a joint operation with the Congolese Armed Forces to protect civilians in the Madombo and Itendey areas of Ituri Province, respectively controlled by the Zaire and CODECO armed groups.

The General Assembly today authorized nearly $5.6 billion to keep 14 peacekeeping missions, 2 service centres and support staff at Headquarters operating through June 2025, adopting 20 resolutions and 1 decision forwarded by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan for six months until 31 December and requested the Secretary-General to ensure that the Force has the required capacity and resources to fulfil its mandate “in a safe and secure way”.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says its operations are being severely hindered by the escalation of fighting in south and central Gaza, as well as the limited flow of humanitarian assistance and the lack of public order and safety in the south. Despite this, WFP has reached more than 766,000 people in Gaza with food in June.

Just 18 per cent of the $48.7 billion needed to humanitarian aid worldwide this year has been received, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. The consequences are particularly acute in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Mali, Myanmar and Sudan.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today said it is stepping up support to assist some 8,000 Rohingya refugees who were affected on Wednesday by landslides in the Cox’s Bazar refugee settlement in Bangladesh.

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved a draft resolution forwarding the latest report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations for adoption by the General Assembly.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, today expressed serious concern at the recent rise in killings of civilians across Burkina Faso, with allegations of responsibility pointing to both armed groups and State actors.