Secretary General/Cyprus, Chad, Ethiopia & other topics - Daily Briefing (23 April 2021)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "Secretary General/Cyprus, Chad, Ethiopia & other topics - Daily Briefing (23 April 2021)"
The topics: Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Secretary-General/Cyprus - Chad - Ethiopia - Central African Republic - Myanmar - Saint Vincent And The Grenadines - Green Investment Forum - Pakistan - Democratic Republic Of The Congo - COVAX - Lao People’s Democratic Republic/Covid-19 - Smallholder Farmers - Senior Personnel Appointments - International Days - Financial Contributions SECRETARY-GENERAL/CYPRUS Next week, as you know, the Secretary-General will be in Geneva, for the informal 5 + 1 meeting on the Cyprus issue. Those meetings will be held from the 27-29 April. CHAD I wanted to confirm to you that François Fall, the UN Special Representative and head of the Office for Central Africa, has been representing the Secretary-General at the late President Déby’s state funeral today. He will stay on in N’Djamena for several days to initiate contacts and also to meet with a range of stakeholders to encourage national cohesion in these difficult times. Our current focus remains on the de-escalation of tensions, on sustaining peace and preventing violence and instability. We understand that the African Union Peace and Security Council met yesterday to consider the situation in Chad. We are working with them, as well as the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), to explore options on how best to support peace and stability in the country. We are calling on all actors to remain calm and to refrain from any violence that could harm civilians and further complicate an already difficult situation. Throughout this pivotal moment, the UN Resident Coordinator and the entire UN system in the country continue to support Chad on all issues related to development, peacebuilding and humanitarian response, in coordination with national and international partners. ETHIOPIA We are advised by our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that there are armed clashes that are still being reported in some areas, including around Abiy Adi in the central region of Tigray, restricting humanitarian movement and response. There are also critical water shortages in most parts of the region. In response, humanitarian partners and the regional government have deployed 123 water trucks to several areas, including Mekelle and Shire, targeting some 280,000 people. An additional 285 water trucks are required over the next three months, based on recent needs assessments. The Government has also reported the arrival of 75,000 newly displaced people in Shire over the past week. This brings the total number of internally displaced people in Shire to nearly half a million men, women and children. Most of the displaced are living with host communities. Others are in 15 displacement sites, most of which have reportedly not received any assistance over the past two to three months. While there have been some improvements in humanitarian access in Tigray, we continue to call for safe, unimpeded and sustained access to scale up the humanitarian response to help all people in need. More funding is also urgently needed. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=23%20April%202021


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