Mali: USG for DPA, Jeffrey Feltman attended the Support and Follow-up Group on Mali meeting in Brussels today. Feltman urged that the pledges made at the Donors’ Conference in Addis Ababa last month must quickly materialize in order for AFISMA to become fully operational.
Syria: WHO announced today that the health situation in Syria has only gotten worse over the last six months, with 55 per cent of the public hospitals damaged and more than one-third of all hospitals out of service. OCHA considers the humanitarian crisis to be deepening. We could, the agency says, see significantly more than the current four million people in need of urgent assistance and more than two million internally displaced in Syria in the short term.
Middle East: The SG re-emphasized the need to make progress towards a two-State solution between Israel and Palestine in remarks at the opening session this morning of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. “The status quo is unsustainable, and unacceptable,” he said.
The SC: The SC held consultations on the DRC – featuring a brief by DPKO Chief Hervé Ladsous – as well as another on Guinea-Bissau today. During the latter consultation, ASG for Political Affairs Tayé-Brook Zerihoun noted that insecurity and impunity are still serious issues that the country’s Government must urgently address, despite steps being taken to forward the transition process.