Political affairs

The United Nations mission in Iraq will close its doors this month after more than two decades, its senior leader told the Security Council today, as delegates hailed its work and orderly exit amid complex regional conditions.

In Mozambique, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is gravely concerned about intensifying attacks on villages and the rapid spillover into districts considered safe, with nearly 100,000 people displaced in the past fortnight alone. The violence, which began in Cabo Delgado in 2017, has displaced over 1.3 million people.

In Cyrus, the Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman, met for the first time as leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. The meeting took place in the UN protected area and was facilitated by the Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the overnight missile and drone attacks by the Russian Federation on several Ukrainian regions, which reportedly killed  at least 25 people, including children, in two residential areas in Ternopil in western Ukraine. Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, while traveling from Cairo to Rafah, spoke of how vital that route is as a lifeline for aid going into Gaza. He stressed the need for all the crossings to open to allow for a massive scale-up and start turning the situation on the ground around.

The World Food Programme (WFP) today reported that millions in Somalia are at risk of worsening hunger and malnutrition as critical funding shortfalls have forced the agency to reduce the number of people it supports by over two thirds to just 350,000 in November, down from 1.1 million in August.

While the Libyan people have shown remarkable determination to exercise their democratic rights in recent municipal elections, the country remains mired in political deadlock, fragile security, economic hardship and human rights concerns, a senior UN official told the Security Council this afternoon.

In Sudan, five members of a UN humanitarian convoy were killed on 2 June and several more were injured during an attack in North Darfur. The joint World Food Programme-UNICEF convoy was made up of 15 trucks, and they had travelled over 1,800 kilometres from Port Sudan, and they were carrying nutrition supplies and food.

Pointing to growing frustration over the lack of progress in political engagement with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities — compounded by cuts to humanitarian-aid funding that are placing additional pressure on the Afghan people — the top UN official there told the Security Council today that the Taliban must clearly demonstrate their commitment to Afghanistan’s international reintegration.

Libya’s leaders and security actors are prioritizing political and personal gain over national interests, the United Nations’ top political official told the Security Council today, as the country’s delegate blamed proxy wars for its instability.