Central African Republic, Sudan, Nigeria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (20 June 2023)

Highlights:
- Secretary-General
- Central African Republic
- Sudan
- Nigeria
- Middle East
- Lebanon
- Counter-Terrorism Week
- World Refugee Day

SECRETARY-GENERAL
Tonight, the Secretary-General will travel to Paris, where he will attend a Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.  
In his remarks at the Summit, he will reiterate his call for ambitious reforms to the international financial architecture, and for immediate steps - including his proposal for an SDG [stimulus] - to better support developing and emerging economies and put us back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Secretary-General is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, as well as other officials.  
While in Paris, the Secretary-General will participate in an open discussion with students, alumni and academics at Sciences Po university and share his perspective on the state of world affairs. 
The opening ceremony of the Summit, as well as the event at Sciences Po will be webcast live on UN WebTV.  
The Secretary-General will be back in New York on Friday, June 23rd.  

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The Head of the Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic, Valentine Rugwabiza, briefed the Security Council this morning. She told Council members that important progress was made in the implementation of the peace agreement, adding that the dissolution in April of two armed groups as well as factions of three other armed groups – all signatories of the peace agreement - were a significant development in the peace process.
But, she added, combatants affiliated with these armed groups must be quickly disarmed and reintegrated for this dissolution to have a meaningful impact. She called on the partners of the Central African Republic for additional support for the effective reintegration of disarmed and demobilized armed combatants.
Turning to the security situation, Ms. Rugwabiza said that increasing tensions and the rapidly deteriorating security at the country’s borders with Chad, South Sudan and Sudan represent renewed security and humanitarian challenges. As we have mentioned here, Ms. Rugwabiza reminded Council members that following the outbreak of violence in Sudan, the [country] is facing an influx of refugees and returnees in urgent need of protection and assistance.
Her full remarks were shared with you.
And I might add that this afternoon, the Security Council will also hear from Nicholas Haysom about the UN Mission in South Sudan.

SUDAN
Turning to Sudan, the humanitarian community continues to deliver. As of today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has facilitated the movement of at least 388 trucks carrying life-saving assistance to various parts of the country.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says that the agency has reached more than 1 million people with emergency food assistance in the six weeks since it resumed operations in Sudan. This includes reaching more than 375,000 people in North, South, East and Central Darfur.
People continue to seek refuge from the fighting in Sudan in neighbouring countries. The UN Refugee Agency says that more than 500,000 people have now fled across Sudan’s borders to escape the violence.
And you may have seen that, yesterday, donors announced more than $1.5 billion in support of the humanitarian response in Sudan, and in the region, during the high-level pledging event co-hosted by the UN, together with the Governments of Egypt, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the African Union and the European Union.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, thanked donors for their generosity.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/conte....nt/ossg/noon-briefin