Syria

The World Food Programme launched its biggest emergency response for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh this year, following this week’s heavy rains and flooding.  In 24 hours, WFP reached 16,000 people with food aid — more than the total number of people it has reached since the start of the monsoon season.

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

The Central Emergency Response Fund released $75 million to support responses to eight underfunded emergencies — in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Mali, Sudan, Venezuela and the neighbouring region — providing aid to 4 million people affected by conflict and natural disasters, among other crises.

At least 14 people were killed and many more injured yesterday, including children, when a bus hit an improvised explosive device near Douentza in the Mopti region, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali reported.  The Mission supported the medical evacuations of 16 victims.

With the delicate political process intended to resolve the crisis in Syria entering a critical phase, senior United Nations officials called today for immediate Security Council action to ensure a ceasefire is in place in that country’s north-western Idlib Governorate amid a surge in civilian casualties and ongoing attacks on key infrastructure.

Preliminary reports from medical facilities in Yemen indicate that in the past two days, as many as 13 people have been killed and at least 70 others were wounded during the clashes in Aden and Abyan governorates.

After a long journey across the seas, youth climate activist Greta Thunberg is arriving this afternoon in New York.  The United Nations will be there to welcome her with a flotilla of 17 sailboats, each branded with a sustainable goal.  Ms. Thunberg is scheduled to attend the Secretary-General’s climate summit.

The sixty-eighth United Nations Civil Society Conference kicked off in Salt Lake City, Utah, today under the theme “Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities”.  Up to 5,000 representatives of civil society from more than 100 countries will take part, with about 40 per cent being under the age of 32 years.

UNICEF appealed today for more than $70 million to provide life-saving humanitarian aid to 900,000 children across Venezuela until the end of 2019.  The agency says it is stepping up efforts to help children and families facing food shortages and limited access to health care, safe water and education.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that in Libya at least 90 civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured in and around the southwest town of Murzug since fighting escalated earlier this month.  The United Nations and aid agencies are responding with emergency supplies.