D.R. CONGO REFUGEES
UNHCR today launched an appeal seeking $40.4 million to deliver protection and assistance to 275,000 internally displaced people in South Kivu, North Kivu, Maniema and Tanganyika provinces of the DRC, as well as to support a potential influx of 258,000 refugees, asylum-seekers, and returnees in neighbouring countries, including Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
UNHCR said there is an urgent need for shelter, food and latrines as well as relocation of the new arrivals to other sites to address overcrowding. UNHCR and its partners are stepping up assistance, distributing warm meals and water to new arrivals. They need all sorts of relief supplies.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
And just to say that in South Kivu, humanitarian partners have also raised concerns that ongoing clashes in Uvira are hindering access – including the movement of ambulances – while hospitals report daily casualties among civilians.
An in the Kalehe territory, fighting has forced more than 50,000 people to flee over the past week, many to Burundi. Since February, more than 40,000 Congolese nationals – the majority of whom are women and children – have arrived in Burundi seeking protection there.

SECRETARY-GENERAL
A couple of travel notes, as I mentioned to you yesterday, the Secretary-General will be in Geneva on Monday to address the Human Rights Council as well as the committee on disarmament.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
Our Deputy Secretary-General is in South Africa, where today she took part in the second and final day of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting.  
In her remarks, Amina Mohammed reaffirmed our support for the G20 platform. With just five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, she warned that we are off track and that decades of development gains are at risk, particularly for the most vulnerable. She underscored that in today’s deeply interconnected world, no nation can stand alone and that global challenges demand global action.
In the afternoon, she had a number bilateral discussions with several foreign ministers, emphasizing the urgency of reinforced multilateralism and strong partnerships to accelerate the implementation of the Pact for the Future and the SDGs.
She also sought their support for securing an ambitious outcome at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development which will take place in Seville, Spain, in July.
Tomorrow, she travels to Nairobi, Kenya, for a series of engagements on food systems ahead of the second UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake, which will take place in Addis Ababa, also in July.
And, yesterday, I said that Ms. Mohammed met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. I stand corrected - that meeting did not take place.

SOUTH SUDAN
Our Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, is continuing his own travels in eastern Africa. In South Sudan, he met today with the country’s First Vice President, Riek Machar. They discussed the progressing peace implementation, among other topics. 
He also met with key members of technical bodies tasked with constitution-making and electoral preparations, to get a sense of the challenges they face in making significant advances in their respective areas. 
Additionally, he held discussions with the diplomatic community, including the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development, known as IGAD. As mentioned, Mr. Lacroix will travel to Abyei tomorrow to visit the peacekeeping mission there.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that aid operations continue to reach Palestinians from north to south with critical assistance, including cash. 
Since the ceasefire, some 138,000 people across Gaza have benefited from cash assistance, including people with disabilities, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women.
UNICEF also tells us that since the ceasefire took effect, market conditions have improved across Gaza. Goods are reportedly less expensive, and there are more commodities available. For the first time since July, children under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women have a more diverse diet – consuming more fruit, vegetables, eggs and dairy products.                                                                   
Meanwhile, we and our partners continue to provide shelter support to Palestinians in Gaza, with the UN Relief and Works Agency - UNRWA - distributing tents, tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, clothes and kitchen items to thousands of families hosted in 120 shelters throughout the Gaza Strip.
And turning to the West Bank, OCHA remains concerned by Israeli forces’ ongoing operations in the northern part of the West Bank – the longest there since the early 2000s.
OCHA warns that settler violence also continues. Between 11 and 17 February, OCHA documented 34 incidents – an average of almost five per day – involving settlers and resulting in casualties or property damage. In one such incident, Israeli settlers severed agricultural water pipes in Tulkarm governorate, affecting the livelihoods of a dozen Palestinian farmers.
During the same period, nearly 40 Palestinians were displaced near Al Maniya village in Bethlehem, following recurrent attacks from Israeli settlers over the past year.  
OCHA has documented the displacement of almost 2,300 Palestinians – including 1,100 children – across the West Bank since the start of 2023 due to heightened settler violence and access restrictions by Israeli authorities.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Also I can tell you that the Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports that the remains of Shiri Bibas, an Israeli hostage, which were due to be returned yesterday alongside her children's remains, are still missing. He stresses the imperative to respect the dignity of the deceased and to ensure their remains are returned to their families in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law. Every release must be carried out with the utmost dignity and in line with humanitarian principles.
The Secretary-General continues to reiterate his appeal to the parties to abide by all their commitments and continue the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

U.N. INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON
Moving to north to Lebanon, our peacekeeping mission there continues to observe sporadic military activity by the Israel Defense Forces. The Mission has also heard gunshots in its area of operations. 
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Armed Forces are now deployed in approximately 100 positions south of the Litani River, and our UNIFIL Blue Helmets continue to accompany and support the Lebanese Armed Forces in their deployment. 
In the past two days the peacekeepers discovered several unexploded ordnances as well as caches of unauthorized weapons in some areas in the south. These discoveries were immediately reported to the Lebanese Armed Forces so that they can dispose of them.. 
On the political level, today a Lebanese Foreign Affairs Committee delegation met with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, General Aroldo Lázaro, that meeting took place in Naqoura, the headquarters of UNIFIL.
They discussed the overall situation and members of the delegation voiced solidarity after the recent attack on peacekeepers in Beirut. 

LIBYA
Turning to Libya, the Advisory Committee established by the UN Mission in Libya concluded yesterday its second three-day meeting in Tripoli. 
Facilitated by the Mission’s electoral and constitutional experts, the Committee held discussions on the current electoral framework, focusing on the contentious aspects that have impeded the holding of national elections in Libya. Members underscored the importance of a holistic approach to resolving these challenges.  
The Advisory Committee agreed to reconvene in the coming days to continue its work.  

UKRAINE
From Ukraine, our colleague Matthias Schmale, our Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, is saying that this year, $2.6 billion are needed to sustain assistance for six million Ukrainians. 
He urged the international community to continue being generous and not forget Ukraine, reminding the world that more than 10 million Ukrainian people remain uprooted, with some 3.7 million of them displaced within their own country. His remarks were made as we approach the third-year mark of the Russian Federation’s full-scale war on Ukraine, which Mr. Schmale called a sombre milestone. 
Mr. Schmale flagged several priorities for 2025, including delivering aid where it is needed most and ensuring more durable solutions for internally displaced people.

MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY
Today is International Mother Language Day. UNESCO reaffirms its commitment to preserving the approximately 7,000 languages spoken around the world.
At least 40 per cent of the languages spoken today are endangered due to globalization and societal changes. That’s why UNESCO is working with countries to prioritize multilingual teaching, based on the language best understood and spoken, as a basis for quality education.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
We thank our friends in Italy and the United Arab Emirates for taking us to 65 fully paid-up Member States. Dezhi.

GUEST
The guest today was Bintou Keita, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the head of the peacekeeping mission there. She briefed virtually from Kinshasa.