Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
– Yemen
– Ukraine
– Ethiopia
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– South Sudan
– Myanmar
– Kazakhstan
Ramadan
World Autism Awareness Day
Hybrid Briefing Monday
Financial Contribution
Delegates’ Lounge

YEMEN
I want to start with good news for you. Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy for Yemen, just announced that the parties to the conflict have responded positively to a United Nations proposal for a two-month Truce which comes into effect tomorrow 2 April at 19:00 hrs. The parties accepted to halt all offensive military air, ground and maritime operations inside Yemen and across its borders; they also agreed for fuel ships to enter into Hudaydah ports and commercial flights to operate in and out of Sana’a airport to predetermined destinations in the region; they further agreed to meet under the Special Envoy’s auspices to open roads in Taiz and other governorates in Yemen. The Truce can be renewed beyond the two-month period with the consent of the parties.
Mr. Grundberg called on the parties to fully adhere to and respect the Truce and its elements and to take all necessary steps to immediately implement it.
He said that this Truce is a first and long overdue step. All Yemeni women, men and children that have suffered immensely through over seven years of war expect nothing less than an end to this war. The parties must deliver nothing less.

UKRAINE
On Ukraine, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that more than 1.4 million people have now been reached across the country with assistance and protection services by humanitarian partners since 24 February. This is more than half a million people more than last week. We, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to scale-up our response to assist people impacted by the devastation and destruction caused by the conflict, complementing the work being carried out by volunteers across the country.
Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that 1.3 million people have been reached with food assistance, more than 900,000 people have received critical healthcare support and more than 180,000 people have been assisted with access to clean water and hygiene products.
Humanitarian partners have also reached more than 86,000 displaced people with emergency shelter or critical household items and around 13,000 children who fled their homes and schools have received support to continue their education.
However, humanitarian partners still have not been able to reach key areas where people desperately need assistance, including Mariupol, Kherson and Chernihiv.
Visiting Ukraine for the first time since the Russian military offensive, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, appealed in the strongest terms for an end to the war, while calling on the international community to provide sustained support to the millions of civilians impacted by the fighting. Mr. Grandi also reiterated UNHCR’s commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine – in neighbouring countries, and inside their country.
With local authorities and community representatives, Mr. Grandi visited a reception centre for internally displaced people that was established and run by the authorities with UNHCR support. It is one of 70 centres that have already been assessed and equipped while others are being identified for refurbishment.
UNHCR is expanding the capacity and improving the living conditions of reception centres so that they may host more internally displaced Ukrainians in need of shelter.

ETHIOPIA
We have some more good news coming from Ethiopia this morning. A convoy transporting 500 metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies was moving into Tigray. This is the first time that the UN and partners have been able to move aid into Tigray by road since mid-December. Teams have also reached communities in the Afar region with desperately needed food assistance. 
It is critical that we now see sustained deliveries of relief supplies, fuel and cash into Tigray, and the continued expansion of the response in conflict-affected areas in Afar and Amhara.
Shortages of supplies, fuel and cash have severely undermined the ability of humanitarian organizations to respond to the increasingly acute situation in Tigray. Some of the limited remaining food stocks were distributed in seven towns in Tigray during the past week. Only about 1.2 million people have received food assistance in the past five-and-a-half months, while more than five million should be assisted every six weeks.

Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=01%20April%202022

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