Unifeed

The World Food Programme (WFP) is rushing food and other assistance to victims of the flooding and cyclone that hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The aid agency has reached 20,000 people already and is stepping up operations to assist, initially, 600,000 people. WFP

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has dispatched a team to Mozambique to aid in efforts to help the economy recover in the wake of devastating Cyclone Idai, Fund spokesperson Gerry Rice announced today. IMF

With the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) facing one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock called for urgent and sustained funding for the Government-led response to meet the needs of children, families and vulnerable communities including people with disabilities. UNICEF

Asked about the reported detaining of a key opposition figure in Venezuela, a UN spokesperson said, “we renew our call on all actors in Venezuela to undertake immediate steps to lower tensions and refrain from any action that can lead to further escalation.” UNIFEED

Dire conditions persist in vast areas of southern Africa affected by Cyclone Idai as heavy rain continues to cause massive destruction, the UN said on Thursday, while aid teams scale up efforts to reach those most in need. UNTV CH

A new report of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that children living in protracted conflicts are three times more likely to die from water-related diseases than from violence. UNICEF

Addressing the opening of the UN Conference on South-South Cooperation in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, Secretary-General António Guterres said that the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, which resulted from the landmark international conference on South-South cooperation 40 years ago, has transformed the dynamics of international cooperation. UNIFEED

Briefing the Security Council via video teleconference, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, said the situation in the country “has reached a crucial juncture,” as it aims “to pivot to stability and a political compact which will enable an end to the crisis.” UNIFEED

The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, acknowledged today’s final appeal judgement by the Hague Branch of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, largely upholding the verdict issued in 2016 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) against Radovan Karadzic and increasing his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. UNFEED / FILE

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she was “deeply concerned by the magnitude and gravity of the human rights impact of the current crisis” in Venezuela which she described as a “worrying destabilizing factor in the region.” UNTV CH / UNIFFED