Venezuela

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Mamadou Diallo, and Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant have launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti.  It seeks $126 million to provide critical humanitarian assistance and protection services for 1.3 million Haitians.

To assist 2.3 million people in Mali, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners today launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan requesting $296 million.  The situation there has deteriorated in recent years due to increased conflict and intercommunal clashes, as well as a high level of food insecurity.

The Security Council returned today to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela for the second time in as many months, with speakers debating whether to press for free and fair elections under international supervision or to encourage the Government of President Nicolás Maduro to open dialogue with the opposition, free of external interference.

More civilians were killed in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2018 than at any other time since records have been kept, according to a new report by the United Nations, which documented 3,804 deaths.  The report attributed nearly two thirds of the casualties to anti-Government elements.

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

The United Nations refugee agency says it is seeing a surge in refugee arrivals from South Sudan into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  In the past few days, an estimated 5,000 refugees have arrived in several border villages near the town of Ingbokolo in north-eastern Ituri Province, according to local village chiefs.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon visited the Goura refugee site, which is hosting 35,000 Nigerian refugees following clashes between non-State armed groups and the Nigerian military.  The 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Cameroon seeks nearly $300 million to assist 2.3 million vulnerable people.

A two-day event on women, peace and security began in Addis Ababa today in preparation for the 2019 United Nations peacekeeping ministerial conference set for New York in March.  President Sahle Work Zewde of Ethiopia and Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative to the African Union, addressed the gathering.

Following widespread protests and political upheaval in Venezuela — a country plagued by food shortages, deteriorating basic services and an inflation rate of more than 1 million per cent — all actors must exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation, said a senior United Nations official during an emergency meeting of the Security Council today.

The United High Commissioner for Human Rights today condemned this week’s protests in Venezuela and called for effective investigations into the violence that has led to several deaths and injuries.  She urged all sides to conduct immediate talks to defuse the increasingly incendiary atmosphere.