Sudan

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Wu Haitao (China):

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations that Iran has not declared, Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said this morning during a briefing to IAEA Member States.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

In north-east Nigeria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 7.9 million people — more than 1 out of every 2 people in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States — need aid in 2020.  With an upsurge in attacks in the area over the past year, aid agencies have been forced to scale down their work.

The Security Council today extended until 12 March 2021 the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the sanctions regime on Sudan, but some Council members urged the 15-member organ to consider lifting the restrictive measures.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Dang Dinh Quy (Viet Nam):

The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, has released $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help bolster the response to East Africa’s worst desert locust outbreak in decades, which is destroying crops in communities already facing food shortages.

The United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) today called for the immediate release of Siham Sergewa, an elected member of the House of Representatives, who was seized at night from her home in Benghazi six months ago.  Since her violent abduction, her fate remains unknown.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees launched a Refugee Response Plan for Sudan today in Khartoum, calling for $477 million to help more than 900,000 refugees and nearly a quarter million of their Sudanese hosts. 

Food prices around the world are at their highest levels in five years, the food price index from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.  According to FAO, prices rose for the third consecutive month in December, with vegetable oil, sugar, dairy and cereals among the commodities driving up world food prices.