NEWS

Efforts to advance Somalia’s progress on the security front were the key topic at a high-level meeting of Somali authorities and international partners in the country’s capital today. UNSOM

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council “there are over 80 000 Shia militants in Syria under Iranian control” training in a camp near Damascus “to commit acts of terror in Syria and across the region.” UNIFEED

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned of “catastrophic consequences of the severe escalation of fighting affecting the Palestine refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus as well as surrounding areas.” UNIFEED

At the end of his official visit to Ethiopia, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he heard clear expressions of optimism and hope that the new government would deliver on the heartening and inspiring speeches made during its first three weeks in office. OHCHR

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov said the situation in Gaza is “an injustice that no man, no woman, no child should have to endure.” UNIFEED

The United Nations is stepping up its effort to reconcile the Panawur and the Panagoung communities locked in a tribal war in the Western Lakes region of South Sudan. UNMISS

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, called for pledges made in support of the G5 joint force to be “disbursed and made available to the G5 as quickly as possible so that the momentum can continue and G5 force can continue in the process of beefing up its capacity.” UNIFEED

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, said the Venezuelan people “have a choice to freely change the ship’s course, the course of the nation, towards the right or towards the left." UNIFEED

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that it could contribute to peacebuilding and sustaining peace stressing that investment in conflict prevention “pays off in human lives, in financial savings and in development gains.” UNIFEED

Marina has been displaced twice as shells continued to rain down on her village in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Now she must make do in a ramshackle shelter, caring for four generations of family while hoping peace will allow them to pursue happier and safer lives. UNHCR