Secretary-General's press encounter - on the situation in the Middle East
New York, 8 October 2024
The nightmare in Gaza is now entering an atrocious, abominable second year.
This has been a year of crises. Humanitarian crisis. Political crisis....
The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, voiced deep concern on Monday over the siege of El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur, where continued clashes are putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the region at risk.
Senior officials from across the UN system underscored the need for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and across the wider region, in statements marking one year since the brutal 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
UN humanitarians have warned that conditions in northern Gaza are deteriorating rapidly, with over 400,000 people facing Israeli evacuation orders amid ongoing airstrikes and ground operations.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called on Sunday for greater international support to stem the “humanitarian catastrophe” now engulfing Lebanon following a massive escalation in Israeli airstrikes and a “limited” ground invasion there targeting Hezbollah militants.
In a message to mark one year since the Hamas-led terror attack during which more than 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals were brutally killed on 7 October, the UN Secretary-General has called on the international community to loudly condemn those “abhorrent acts” which have triggered a shocking wave of violence across the region.
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As Lebanon suffered another night of heavy Israeli bombing, UN humanitarians and partners described how people desperate to flee the violence found the country’s main border crossing into Syria cut by a new dawn strike, forcing them to skirt “a huge crater” and rubble on foot, to reach the other side.
The UN chief has strongly condemned the killing of several Palestinians, including women and children, who died when a residential building in Tulkarem camp in the West Bank was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday night.
An attack by a notorious gang in the town of Pont Sondé, Haiti, left at least 70 people dead on Thursday, after gunmen armed with automatic rifles opened fire, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.
How does a Security Council resolution get adopted?
The UN-designated human rights expert on Sudan has called for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied militias, to take immediate steps to protect civilians in greater Khartoum amid escalating violence and alarming reports of summary executions.
Peacekeepers positioned along the “Blue Line” of separation between Israel and Lebanon remain committed to their mandate, and will remain in place until conditions allow, the UN’s peacekeeping chief said on Thursday.
Russian shelling has hit another apartment block in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, UN aid teams said on Thursday.
Armed conflict puts children at an increased risk of grave violations while their risk of being trafficked similarly increases, including in transitional periods, a new UN study has revealed.
People in Lebanon uprooted by Israeli airstrikes including in central Beirut have described being forced to flee “total destruction”, amid fresh reports of Hezbollah projectile attacks into Israel and close-quarter clashes along the UN-patrolled line of separation between the two countries.
The global peace and security environment remained critical in the first half of 2024. The work of diplomacy led by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) continued patiently, painstakingly, often discreetly, in large part thanks to the contributions its partners channel through the Multi-Year Appeal (MYA). Our experience is that relatively modest investments in conflict prevention and sustaining peace yield measurable dividends, in the short, medium and long term.
Despite the significant peace and security challenges facing Africa, there are reasons to be hopeful, the head of the UN Office to the African Union (UNOAU) told ambassadors at the Security Council on Wednesday, urging their continued focus on the continent.
A breakdown in law and order and a wider humanitarian emergency across Haiti have displaced more than 700,000 people – one in two of them children – the UN migration office, IOM, said on Wednesday.
Hours after Iran fired a reported 200 missiles at Israel in response to Israeli military incursions in southern Lebanon raising fears of a wider Middle East escalation, UN human rights chief Volker Türk insisted on Wednesday that “peace must prevail” in the Middle East, while UN Member States meeting in Geneva reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and beyond.
Security Council members met in emergency session on Tuesday morning in New York with the Middle East on the brink of all-out war. App users can reprise our live coverage here.
Madam President,
Distinguished members of the Security Council,
The unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023) marked a major milestone in the partnership between the African Union and the United Nations. It built on the enduring relationship between the two organizations, taking into account their respective strengths and comparative advantages. With this resolution, the Security Council responded to longstanding calls, including by the Secretary-General, to support African Union-led peace support operations — including peace enforcement and counter-terrorism operations — with mandates from the Council and through United Nations assessed contributions, on a case-by-case basis.
Since the adoption of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023), the United Nations Secretariat has intensified its collaboration with the African Union Commission. And as a result, significant progress has already been achieved towards the operationalization of the resolution.
We worked to develop a common understanding of this resolution and its implications for both the African Union and the United Nations. The focus of our collective work was on achieving greater institutional and operational readiness to ensure its effective implementation. In this regard, we established a joint African Union-United Nations Task Force, comprising representatives from all relevant entities within both the Secretariat and the Commission, to shepherd the process. Meetings were held at senior and technical levels. The Joint African Union-United Nations Task Force met at the technical level twice — first in Addis Ababa, from 23 to 24 May 2024, and then in New York, from 29 to 31 July 2024. The Joint Task Force has also held a series of virtual consultations.
During these consultations, the Joint African Union-United Nations team discussed four key areas:
The Joint Task Force agreed on a draft Joint African Union - United Nations roadmap on the operationalization of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023). This draft roadmap builds on decades of shared lessons learned, operational experience and collaboration between the two organizations. We recognize that strengthening institutional and operational readiness of the Secretariat and Commission will be an ongoing process. Therefore, the roadmap will serve as a framework for continuously strengthening overall performance and impact.
The Secretary-General and the African Union Commission Chairperson are expected to endorse the draft roadmap at their annual conference in Addis Ababa later this month.
Madam President,
Distinguished members of the Security Council,
The African Union and the United Nations have adopted a flexible and forward-leaning approach to institutional and operational readiness for the implementation of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023). In that regard, the full implementation of the Joint African Union-United Nations roadmap — once officially endorsed by the Secretary-General and the African Union Commission Chairperson—does not constitute a prerequisite for implementing Security Council resolution 2719 (2023) in a specific context.
Accordingly, should the African Union Peace and Security Council decide to mandate an African Union-led peace support operation, and the Security Council decide to authorize it under the 2719 framework, the African Union Commission and the United Nations Secretariat will be ready to launch and support this peace operation.
A possible first test-case for the implementation the 2719 framework is currently being discussed. Indeed, based on Security Council resolution 2748 (2024), the African Union Commission and the United Nations Secretariat, in consultation with the Federal Government of Somalia and relevant international and regional stakeholders and partners, are jointly planning for the successor mission to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) -- the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM). As requested by the Council, we are preparing a report that “articulates clearly a range of options for financing it [AUSSOM], including, but not limited to, the framework established by resolution 2719 (2023), other suitable alternatives, or some combination of these options.” We will also provide an update to the Council on the status of implementation of Security Council resolution 2748 (2024) on 10 October.
More broadly, a report on the overall implementation of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023) will be submitted by the end of the year. The report will provide further details on this new and critical aspect of the partnership between the African Union and the United Nations.
Madam President,
Distinguished members of the Security Council
The support of this Council, as well as of Member States of the African Union and of the United Nations, will remain essential for the successful deployment of an African Union-led peace support operation under the resolution 2719 framework. Together, the African Union Commission and the United Nations Secretariat stand ready to translate Security Council resolution 2719 (2023) into tangible actions that would contribute to lasting peace and stability on the African continent and beyond.
Thank you for your attention.
Madame President, Excellencies,
The raging fires in the Middle East are fast becoming an inferno.
Exactly one week ago, I briefed the Security Council about the alarming situation in Lebanon.
Since then, things have gone from bad to much, much worse.
As I told the Council last week, the Blue Line has seen tensions for years. But since October, exchanges of fire have expanded in scope, depth, and intensity.
...A former combatant fighting for the rights of her people on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines has been talking about how she has swapped her combat fatigues for jilbabs [outer garment] and her life in the jungle for a more peaceful rural community.
With war ramping up across the Middle East on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for the violence to end now.
Diplomats have been highlighting Security Council resolution 1701 in official meetings and in the corridors over the busy High-Level Week at UN Headquarters.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine condemned a deadly Russian strike in Kherson on Tuesday morning and underscored the need to protect civilians caught in the war, which is entering its 30th month.
The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, as Israel launched what it described as a “limited” ground incursion into Southern Lebanon.
UN humanitarians launched a $426 million appeal for Lebanon on Tuesday to support one million people uprooted by widespread Israeli shelling amid what Israel has described as a “limited, localised and targeted” ground operation into Lebanon, across the UN-patrolled line of separation.
I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.
This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.
Beirut, Lebanon
1 October 2024
What we feared has materialized. With strikes throughout Lebanon, including in the heart of Beirut, and incursions across the Blue Line, violence is spiraling to dangerous heights.
Every rocket and missile fired, every bomb dropped and every ground raid conducted pull the parties further from the vision set out in Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and the conditions needed for the safe return of civilians on...
More than one million people across Lebanon have been uprooted by ongoing and deadly Israeli airstrikes across the country, including one reported early Monday morning in a residential area of central Beirut, adding to fears of a full-scale invasion.
The UN Security Council on Monday re-authorized the deployment of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti for 12 months.
Mobilization at the national, regional and international level are needed to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the face of continued violence in the east, trafficking of natural resources, and other challenges, the UN Security Council heard on Monday.
UN humanitarians on Monday warned of the potentially dire consequences that could arise from disruption to the flow of food imports into Yemen following Israeli strikes on the crucial Red Sea port of Hudaydah.
The top UN aid official in Ukraine has condemned Russian attacks in the northeastern city of Sumy on Saturday which damaged a hospital and killed and injured several people.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed grave concern on Saturday over the dramatic escalation of events in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, in the past 24 hours.
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The Secretary-General is gravely concerned by the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut in the last 24 hours.
This cycle of violence must stop now, and all sides must step back from the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war.
He urges the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities. He also...
The sudden and massive escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon has created widespread fear that even worse is to come, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
The UN Security Council debated the current situation on the ground in war-torn Gaza on Friday, where Israeli strikes have killed more than 41,500 Palestinians amid mass displacement and stymied humanitarian efforts as Israel continues hampering the entry of lifesaving aid. UN News app users can catch up with our live coverage here.
