After more than seven years of war, Yemen is becoming a chronic emergency, marked by hunger, disease and other miseries that are rising faster than aid agencies can reverse, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told the Security Council today, as the Special Envoy for the country called for joint efforts by Yemenis and the international community to break the entrenched cycle of violence.
Humanitarian affairs officials in Somalia say an estimated 4.5 million people — including 671,000 who are internally displaced — are affected by the intensifying drought emergency. Health authorities have reported a measles outbreak, and at least nine related deaths in Jubaland state.
More than 70 per cent of South Sudan’s people will struggle to survive the peak of the 2022 lean season, amid unprecedented food insecurity due to conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19 and rising costs, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. WFP says 8.3 million people could face extreme hunger within months.
Malawi confirmed its first polio case in 30 years on 16 February, which was also Africa’s first polio case in in more than five years. So far, there has been no further spread of the disease, thanks to swift and concerted efforts by the national authorities, with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Two peacekeepers died and four others were injured in Mali this morning, when their convoy hit an improvised explosive device north of Mopti while on its way to Timbuktu. They were all from Egypt. The attack is another reminder of the urgent need to continue and strengthen efforts to stabilize the centre of Mali.
The Security Council decided today to renew for one year the arms embargo on Yemen, as well as the travel ban and asset freeze against those threatening peace in that country.
In Afghanistan, senior emergency experts from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations called for urgent support to life-saving humanitarian action after a five-day mission to the country. Over 24 million people – 59 per cent of the Afghan population - requires lifesaving aid, up 30 per cent from 2021.
Wildfires are burning more severely and more often, and urban noise pollution is growing into a global public health menace, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report identifies and offers solutions to those and other environmental issues.
Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, strongly condemned today the continuing violence in the country that is impacting the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers and disrupts the delivery of aid and services to vulnerable people. These appalling acts of violence must stop, she stressed.
Following weeks of a military escalation that has stretched beyond Yemen’s borders into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the senior United Nations mediator, stressing that the conflict could spiral out of control, described plans for a new, multitrack framework aimed at moving the warring parties closer to a political settlement, as he briefed the Security Council today.
