With the security situation in Darfur remaining largely stable, now was the time for the United Nations — in partnership with the African Union — to closely couple the drawdown of its hybrid peacekeeping mission in the Sudanese province with the build-up of a peacebuilding effort that would focus on addressing the root causes of conflict, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council this afternoon.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator today released $30 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to urgently scale up relief efforts in the Sahel, where an acute drought, combined with exceptionally high food prices and worsening insecurity, has escalated humanitarian needs.
Today marks International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, affecting an estimated 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab region, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Because this injury is almost entirely preventable, the Day seeks to raise awareness of the importance of obstetric care for women around the world.
The World Health Organization and partners are supporting the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in preparing to vaccinate high‑risk populations against Ebola. Health workers operating in affected areas are being vaccinated today and community outreach has started to prepare for the ring vaccination.
The Security Council today decided to extend, for six months, mandates of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) relating to the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the protection of civilians, among others, while also underlining that its tasks relating to the contested region’s Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism would be extended no further unless the parties to the dispute accelerated progress in several key areas.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited the town of Bikoro in north-western Democratic Republic of the Congo today to assess the response to the current Ebola outbreak. WHO is deploying experts and coordinating partners as well as providing supplies and equipment to the area.
In Afghanistan, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights welcomed the commitment by the Government to improve the human rights situation, but he also urged more action to end attacks on civilians, mainly by extremists, and the continued discrimination against Afghan women at all levels of society.
The ongoing reconfiguration of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) was having no adverse impact on security, although efforts towards a political solution to the conflict remained stalled, the Head of that Mission told the Security Council this morning as he presented the Secretary-General’s latest 60-day report on the situation there.
The Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $1.26 million for Gaza today to support the rapid procurement of essential medical supplies and their distribution to critical hospitals providing trauma care.
From Sudan, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that some 11,500 people have been displaced to Rokero town and nearby Jemeza village in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur, following fighting that took place in April between armed groups. The figure is a preliminary estimate by an inter-agency assessment team that recently visited the area.
