“We are following with great concern the extremely tense situation in Egypt and wish to convey a strong message of solidarity and support to the Egyptian people,” the Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva.

“We call on the President of Egypt to listen to the demands and wishes of the Egyptian people […] and to address key issues raised by the opposition and civil society in recent months, as well as to heed the lessons of the past in this particularly fragile situation.”

Egypt has been undergoing a democratic transition following the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago in the wake of mass protests similar to those seen in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa as part of what had been called the “Arab Spring.”

Protests have been taking place in various cities in recent days, with protesters reportedly calling for the resignation of President Mohamed Mursi.

At least 20 die in clashes between president’s supporters, opponents on Tuesday and early hours of Wednesday, according to Al Ahram news website.

On Monday, the Egyptian Armed Forces gave all parties involved in the ongoing political impasse until Wednesday 17:00 (Cairo time) to end their differences.

Should they fail to do so, the armed forces warned that it would issue its own “roadmap” for Egypt’s political future.

Mursi, meanwhile, delivered a speech Tuesday night in which he defied opposition calls to step down.

Yesterday, the UN Secretary-General repeated his call for all parties to uphold the law, while respecting the right to demonstrate peacefully. In particular, he underlined that this right must be extended to female demonstrators, given the concerns over the high number of reports of sexual assaults.

The army statement, delivered on state television said that, “The armed forces repeat their call for the people’s demands to be met and give everyone 48 hours as a last chance,” it said.

If the demands of the people are not met in this period the army will announce a “future roadmap” and “measures to oversee its implementation,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s president on Tuesday rejected an army ultimatum threatening to intervene if Islamist President Mohammed Mursi did not meet the demands of the people saying it had its own plan for national reconciliation.

But Mursi’s rejection of the army ultimatum has raised the stakes in the country’s political crisis, which has resulted in 16 people being killed in protests on Sunday, Alarabiya reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to respond to issues raised by the demonstrators, the White House said on Tuesday.

The U.S. president “told President Mursi that the United States is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group,” the White House said, according to Reuters news agency.

Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak as the Arab Spring revolutions took hold more than two years ago, the Arab world’s most populous nation has remained in turmoil.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 30,000 people fled their homes over the weekend, coinciding with the declaration of a state of emergency by the Government and the beginning of a French air operation in support of the Malian army, bringing the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to over 200,000.

“The degradation of the sanitation, shelter, health and food security conditions which has been observed over the last nine months in the North is likely to be aggravated as the number of IDPs increases,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which the country underwent a military coup d’état, in March.

The renewed fighting comes at a time when OCHA estimates that 4.2 million Malians will need humanitarian assistance this year. These include some 2 million food insecure people and hundreds of thousands of malnourished children.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to access areas in the North as fighting continues. In Bamako, the capital, many families are struggling to make ends meet as the security situation deteriorates.

“Many families live in small rooms in bad conditions with no electricity or direct access to water. They generally lack space to accommodate all family members. The needs for money, food and shelter are huge,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards, adding that the agency is in the process of working with partners on income-generating activities to ameliorate the situation.

UNCHR is also assisting Malians who have left their country for neighbouring Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania by providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene structures, healthcare and education.

“Refugees are telling us they fled the ongoing military intervention, the absence of subsistence opportunities and basic services, and the imposition of Sharia Law,” Mr. Edwards said. He added that UNHCR remains short of funds for the Mali crisis with only $77.4 million received of the $123 million sought to help refugees and IDPs in 2012. For 2013, the agency anticipates needs at a further $195.6 million.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that chronic problems of food insecurity and malnutrition in the country will only be worsened by the conflict. The agency has so far managed to move emergency food to 270,000 conflict-affected people in the North, including 70,000 IDPs. However, it states that persistent insecurity is severely limiting its work.

WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs added that the agency would continue to monitor the situation and work closely with its partners to reach more than 400,000 crisis-affected people in the cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, which have been some of the most affected areas.

As the number of displaced people increased, there is also a growing concern for children as they are at high risk of being separated from their families and are more vulnerable to many forms of abuse, including military recruitment and sexual violence, noted the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“A major concern is of children being used in the fighting,” said UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado. “Children were often used in the first wave of fighting, which significantly raised the risk of injury and death.”

In addition to humanitarian concerns, there is also a need to protect the country’s cultural sites, which have previously been attacked during the fighting. The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, today launched an appeal to all military forces in Mali “to make every effort to protect the cultural heritage of the country, which has already been severely damaged.”

In anticipation of military operations, Ms. Bokova mobilized the agency’s Emergency Fund to protect the four sites in Mali that are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Efforts include developing preventive measures and the training of armed forces on the prevention of illicit trafficking.

UNESCO has already provided the topographic features relative to the location of sites to the concerned military staff, as well as information for soldiers to prevent damage to cultural heritage. The information has been shared with police and aid workers.

“Mali’s cultural heritage is a jewel whose protection is important for the whole of humanity. This is our common heritage, nothing can justify damaging it. It carries the identity and values of a people,” Ms. Bokova said.

“The destruction of World Heritage sites in Mali in 2012, especially the mausoleums in Timbuktu, sparked a wave of indignation across the world, helping to raise awareness of the critical situation facing the Malian people. The current military intervention must protect people and secure the cultural heritage of Mali,” she added.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member body called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide, at once, military and security planners to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and other partners to help frame a response to a request by Mali’s transitional authorities for such a force, and to report back within 45 days.

Upon receipt of the report, and acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council said it was ready “to respond to the request of the Transitional authorities of Mali regarding an international military force assisting the Malian Armed Forces in recovering the occupied regions in the north of Mali.”

Chapter VII of the Charter allows the Council to use force in the face of a threat to peace or aggression, taking “such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security,” including blockades and other operations by the forces of Member States.

In August, the Council urged ECOWAS, in cooperation with the transitional authorities, the AU Commission and regional countries, to prepare detailed proposals for a stabilization force to restore the territorial integrity of the country.

Fighting between Malian Government forces and Tuareg rebels broke out in the country’s north in January. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March, have driven 500,000 Malians from their homes, 270,000 of them to neighbouring countries.

In addition, Islamist militants currently control the country’s north and have imposed strict Sharia law, including amputation of limbs as punishment.

The Council called on Malian rebel groups to cut off all ties to terrorist organizations, notably Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and affiliated groups, and expressed its readiness to adopt targeted sanctions against those groups which do not do so.

It also urged the Transitional authorities, rebels and other legitimate representatives of the local population in the northern Mali to engage, as soon as possible, in credible negotiations to seek a sustainable political solution in conformity with the country’s unity, and demanded that all groups in the north cease all human rights violations such as attacks against civilians, sexual violence, recruitments of child soldiers and forced displacements.

Today’s Council resolution reiterated “grave concern” at the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the north of Mali, the increasing entrenchment of terrorist elements including AQIM, affiliated groups and other extremist groups, and its consequences for the countries of the Sahel and beyond.

In addition, it strongly condemned the abuses of human rights committed “by armed rebels, terrorist and other extremist groups, including violence against its civilians, notably women and children, killings, hostage-taking, pillaging, theft, destruction of cultural and religious sites and recruitment of child soldiers,” and stressed that some of these acts might amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Staff from the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) observed over 50 houses that were burned and/or destroyed, according to a statement issued today that also noted that “pools of blood and brain matter were observed in a number of homes.”

The “consistent account” relayed by 27 local villagers who were interviewed by the UN team indicated that the attack began in the early hours of 12 July with the shelling of the village followed by ground operations.

“According to those interviewed, the army was conducting house to house searches asking for men and their ID cards. They alleged that after checking their identification, numerous were killed. Other men were taken out of the village.

“On the basis of some of the destruction observed in the town and the witness accounts, the attack appears targeted at army defectors and activists,” said the statement. UN observers also confirmed the use of direct and indirect weapons, including artillery, mortars and small arms.

The Mission added that the number of casualties is still unclear and that it is trying to seek further verification.

Thursday’s attack, which reportedly resulted in over 200 deaths, was condemned by UN officials as well as the Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Kofi Annan, who said the attack violated the Government’s commitment to the six-point peace plan.

That plan calls for an end to violence, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.

Annan will visit Moscow on Monday for two days of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the crisis in Syria.

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson met today with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil Elaraby, on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa. They shared their strong concerns about the situation in Syria and expressed support for the work of Mr. Annan and the six-point plan.

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad began last year.