“At this difficult time when people across many parts of South Sudan are struggling to cope with flooding, I want to express my appreciation to the humanitarian community and Government for the response efforts so far,” the Acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Chris Nikoi, said.

Nikoi said the response will continue as new areas are accessed with partners overcoming massive challenges.  “Food, household materials, water and sanitation and medical assistance are being transported by any available means,” he stated, noting that 60 per cent of roads have become impassable, with many flooded areas only accessible by air, making humanitarian response expensive.

Media reports say that the Government estimates that about 37,000 households were affected by the floods, with Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states reportedly worst hit.

“Humanitarians appreciate the Government’s leadership and proactive efforts in responding to the needs of flood-affected people across the country, including the establishment of a flood response fund and task force at national level,” said Nikoi.

“This commitment will help complement efforts to ease the suffering of flood-affected people.”

“The humanitarian community has stressed time and time again that people must not be denied life-saving help and that the fighting has to stop,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a statement.

Humanitarian agencies have been denied access to Moadamiyeh for months, the statement noted. Although the evacuation of more than 3,000 people took place today, the same number or more remain trapped. There are reports of continued shelling and fighting in the area, preventing the completion of the rescue operation.

“I call on all parties to agree an immediate pause in hostilities in Moadamiyeh to allow humanitarian agencies unhindered access to evacuate the remaining civilians and deliver life-saving treatment and supplies in areas where fighting and shelling is ongoing,” said Amos, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Those already evacuated from Moadamiyeh received immediate assistance from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UN humanitarian agencies and partners, local businesses and private individuals, including food, medical treatment and psycho-social support.

Amos said she continues to be “extremely worried” by the situation unfolding across Syria where ordinary women, children and men are facing horrific violence and brutality from all sides of the conflict.

Thousands of families also remain trapped in other locations across Syria, for example in Nubil, Zahra, old Aleppo town, old Homs town and Hassakeh.“Civilians must be allowed to move to safer areas without the fear of attack,” stressed Amos.

“It is vital that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian laws to protect civilians and to allow neutral, impartial humanitarian organizations safe access to all people in need, wherever they are in Syria.”

The conflict, which began in March 2011, has claimed over 100,000 lives, sent more than 2 million people fleeing for safety to neighbouring countries and displaced 4.5 million within Syria.

“More areas were becoming inaccessible due to increased fighting,” WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva, adding that the agency is also having difficulty reaching parts of Al Hasakeh in the northeast.

Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced.

As of yesterday, WFP had dispatched food for 2.4 million people, short of the July goal.

Byrs said WFP was “extremely concerned about the developing situation in Homs,” where it is believed that several thousand people are trapped in some parts of the old city.

The situation in the Homs district of Waa’er, where almost 300,000 internally displaced people had taken refuge, was still tense she said, but WFP had managed to dispatch and distribute the July monthly allocation of food rations through partners.

Meanwhile, there are still 400,000 people at risk of food shortages in Idlib, and 1.2 million hard to reach persons in Rural Damascus.

Difficulties were also being reported by non-governmental organization (NGO) partners in both transport and speed of distribution in certain locations. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent for example, had called for additional supplies for 28,000 people in Aleppo, including ready to eat rations, high energy biscuits and flour.

WFP is currently monitoring the situation and potential population displacement to meet their immediate basic needs, but resources are running low. Ms. Byrs said WFP needs $763 million to assist seven million Syrians until the end of the year.

Fighting between Government forces and armed groups in Jonglei has displaced thousands of civilians since January. The UN and its partners have had access to most of the 1.5 million people in the area, but were unable until this week to reach a couple of the villages from which people fled and were hiding in the bush.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said that expanded access for aid agencies in Pibor County has allowed for the assessment of the needs of up to 25,000 civilians who have fled recent fighting.

“I am particularly concerned that some children show signs of measles, a fatal disease in such conditions,” he said in a statement.

UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a joint team on the ground and are providing medical assistance, water purification tablets and plastic sheeting.

“Civilians stranded in the bush need not only peace and security, but also freedom of movement so that they can access services,” he added. “Basic services can be provided by humanitarian organizations, assuming that all parties ensure unhindered and continuous access, as well as an environment which is safe and welcoming for non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.”

Lanzer had called the access gained earlier this week a “significant breakthrough.” With the rainy season started and expected to last through December, the basic concerns of the families in the area are staying dry and warm, food and medical needs.

South Sudan, which marked its second independence anniversary earlier this month, has been plagued by sporadic ethnic violence as well as a border conflict with Sudan.

Seven trucks frilled with mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits and kitchen sets reached Al Raqqa, about 160 kilometres east of Aleppo, between 9 and 12 June, Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told journalists in Geneva. The UN agency is awaiting confirmation that two additional trucks reached the area.

Also this week, UNHCR’s team in Syria started distributing financial help to displaced Syrian families in Tartus, a city on the coast, with families each receiving approximately $150.

Meanwhile, Syrians are continuing to flee to Lebanon from Qusayr which has been under siege since mid-May. Shelter is the primary concern for those headed into Lebanon, which does not have refugee camps. People live in make-shift accommodation, ranging from garages to tents.

“There is probably not a town in Lebanon that does not have Syrian refugees,” the spokesperson said.

At least 93,000 people have been killed in the conflict that began in March 2011, between the Government and forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad. In addition, the UN estimates that some 1.5 million Syrians have fled their country to escape conflict.

“Many arrivals described a city reduced to rubble, devoid of any civilians and combatants,” Fleming said. “One man UNHCR spoke to said there was no food left in the town and no water. He said people were resorting to squeezing water from the leaves of trees for nourishment.”

Fleming also reported a substantial increase in the number of wounded, including 60 children.

Some displaced from Qusayr fled towards Homs, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, where around a 1,000 families are sheltering in schools, unfinished buildings and tents.

People were extremely traumatized by the conflict, UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado told the media briefing, noting that children were reporting that it took a long time for their eyes to get accustomed to sunlight because they had spent so long sheltering underground.

Despite the violence, the UN agency was able to replace a broken generator at a water pumping station in the Qusayr serving 65 towns and villages in the vicinity.

While in Aleppo, it set up a freezer and cold rooms to store vaccines. The Ministry of Health, with support from UNICEF, and its volunteers have vaccinated more than a million Syrian children so far for measles, mumps and rubella, and some 700,000 for polio.

In addition, the UN agency was able to deliver school supplies for 70,000 students and thousands of hygiene and recreation kits. With the oncoming summer heat and damaged water and sanitation networks, disease prevention is a priority. The UN is distributing soap to some 10 million people throughout the country, along with chlorination tablets and supplies for personal and garbage disposal.

Eastern Rural Damascus remains a concern, Mercado said, with an estimated 1.2 million people in difficult to access areas. The UN humanitarian agencies in Syria urged earlier this week that they be granted immediate access to assist those people.

In particular, they are trying to reach a civilian population stranded in the area of Muadhamiya in the capital city, where an estimated 5,000 families are believed to be holed up by the ongoing hostilities.

The suffering of the Syrian people makes the political solution all the more urgent, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Addressing journalists in New York, he appealed to the international community to respond to the UN’s latest appeal and to support the neighbouring countries bearing the greatest burdens of refugees and upheaval.

Last week, the UN launched a $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal – the largest aid request in the Organization’s history – to assist the growing number of people suffering the effects of the crisis in Syria.

The appeal, revised from $1.5 billion in January, covers relief activities for the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) and the Regional Response Plan (RRP).

Of the $4.4 billion, $1.4 billion will go to SHARP, assisting Syrians inside Syria, and $3 billion to RRP, which provides life-saving aid and protection to refugees in the immediate surrounding region.

“We had hoped we would not have to do it again, but today we are asking for $4.4 billion for the whole of 2013,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a joint press conference with other UN officials in Geneva.

“That’s more than half the combined total of all of our other appeals which cover 16 countries from Afghanistan through to Somalia,” she said.

The appeal, revised from $1.5 billion in January, covers relief activities for the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) and the Regional Response Plan (RRP).

Of the $4.4 billion, $1.4 billion will go to SHARP, assisting Syrians inside Syria, and $3 billion to RRP, which provides life-saving aid and protection to refugees in the immediate surrounding region. So far, $1.2 billion have been received.

In addition to this, the Governments of Lebanon and Jordan are seeking $450 million and $380 million, respectively, to support the efforts to provide education, health and other services to the refugees who are now in their countries.

“We estimate that 6.8 million people now need urgent help. That is one in three Syrians in need of urgent humanitarian assistance,” Ms. Amos said, adding that between January and April, the number of people displaced in Syria more than doubled. “These are massive figures, but those figures mask a human tragedy.”

Since March 2011, fighting between the Syrian Government and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad has killed more than 80,000 people. In addition, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that some 1.6 million Syrians have fled their country to escape conflict, but notes that this number quickly escalating.

“We expect that we might reach 3.5 million refugees by the end of the year,” High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres told reporters. “The funds we are appealing for are a matter of survival for suffering Syrians and they are existential for the neighbouring countries hosting refugees.”

Mr. Guterres underlined that more than half of the refugees fleeing Syria are children, and noted that many are starting to show signs of moderate to acute malnutrition.

The appeal includes $1 billion that would enable the World Food Programme (WFP) to scale up its distribution of food both inside and outside Syria. The agency currently distributes food to more than 800,000 people outside Syria and an additional 2.5 million inside the country. With additional resources, the agency said it hopes to reach a total of 7 million Syrians by late 2013.

Gao was among the areas affected by the fighting that broke out last year in northern Mali between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which radical Islamists seized control of the area. The crisis uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to a dire humanitarian crisis.

A recent inter-agency mission to Gao, led by UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Mali Aurélien Agbénonci, found that rehabilitating the water supply is imperative to urgently assist the population of some 70,000 people in the city, as is increasing food assistance.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva that the amount of drinking water available to people has fallen 60 per cent over the past weeks.

There was food distribution ongoing to about a third of the population in Gao, but that covered only part of the needs, according to the mission participants.

“Water is a main issue: some neighbourhoods in Gao did not have water at all due to dysfunctional pumps and lack of electricity,” said Laerke. “Outside of the city, the situation is even worse because the Niger River was the only source of water and there were concerns about cholera outbreaks.”

He said that 22 cases of cholera had been registered in May, and two people had died. No new cases had been reported in the past five days, however, but the risk of cholera remained high.

OCHA has deployed two staff to Gao and is in the process of opening an office. In total, there are more than 100 humanitarian organizations in Mali. The $410 million humanitarian appeal for Mali is 29 per cent funded as of today.

Providing an update on schools in the north, Marixie Mercado of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told reporters that 42 per cent of schools in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu are now functional, with 100,000 students being taught by 23,000 teachers. This is mostly in the urban areas since there is still a high level of insecurity in the rural areas, and across the region the lack of infrastructure and logistical resources is still a major constraint.

Mercado added that there is still a major chronic malnutrition crisis across the country, particularly in the south where 90 per cent of the population live.

UNICEF expected that in 2013, some 210,000 children will require life-saving treatment for malnutrition and 450,000 children will also suffer from a less severe, but still debilitating, form of malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that with the first round of presidential elections in Mali due on 28 July, consultations were under way between the interim Malian Government and refugee-hosting countries on including refugee populations in the voting. These consultations were expected to be followed by bilateral agreements that would form the basis of the electoral process in each of the main refugee-hosting countries.

“While details of the out-of-country electoral process are still being worked out, UNHCR is ready to facilitate the exercise by refugees of their right to vote,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.

According to the agency, some 174,000 Malians have found refuge in neighbouring countries since the conflict began in January 2012. Burkina Faso hosts 50,000 refugees, Mauritania 74,000 and Niger 50,000. Smaller groups of Malian refugees are also in Algeria.

“UNHCR supports the voluntary participation of refugees in the elections, although our role will be limited to a strictly humanitarian and non-political one,” Mr. Edwards stated.

In conjunction with refugee-hosting countries and refugees, UNHCR will facilitate space for dialogue on the electoral process, and for registration of voters. It is expected that registration of voters in camps and outside camps will be the responsibility of the Malian electoral commission, who would work with host governments to establish voting lists.

UNHCR has previously facilitated out-of-country voting by refugees in South Sudan in 2011, in Iraq in 2010 and in Afghanistan in 2004.

Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, assured CAR Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye yesterday of continued support for implementation of the Libreville Accords signed with a rebel coalition that ousted his Government from the CAR capital, Bangui, on 24 March, according to a UN spokesperson.

Since the Séléka rebel coalition launched an offensive in December, 1.2 million people have been cut off from essential services and human rights violations have been widespread.

At least 4.1 million people, almost half of whom are children, have been directly affected by the crisis and more than 37,000 people have fled the country in the past four months due to the violence.

The Libreville Agreements were signed on 11 of January in Gabon, and call for the establishment of National Transitional Council that would elect a transitional government. The rebels have claimed that the Government is not complying with its obligations under the accord.

According to the spokesperson, Mr. Feltman underscored Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s deep concern over the alarming situation regarding security and human rights in the country and the lack of public order and the rule of law.

He welcomed the Prime Minister’s public condemnation of violence and looting and urged him to exercise his leadership in helping to restore calm through the country.

Mr. Feltman also affirmed that the UN will remain engaged with the Central African Republic’s regional and international partners to provide humanitarian assistance, as security conditions permit.

Last week, Mr. Ban welcomed regional efforts and called on the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the African Union (AU) to take urgent measures to address the gravity of the security situation with the assistance of the international community.

“I cannot overstate the seriousness of the current situation in Syria,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said, listing a litany of hurdles facing aid agencies, including visas delayed for up to two months, a three-day notice requirement imposed on all aid convoys and other bureaucratic delays, dozens of road blocks, and a reduction of approved non-Government Organizations (NGOs) from 110 to 29.

She stressed that conditions are most severe in combat- and opposition-controlled areas with latest figures showing 6.8 million people in need, 4.25 million people internally displaced and an additional 1.3 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries from a conflict that has killed over 70,000 people since opposition forces sought to oust President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011.

“And this body has been unable to reach the consensus necessary to support a political solution to the crisis,” she said. “While the humanitarian situation on the ground is becoming more and more disastrous every day, the limitations on the ground have forced us to being precariously close to suspending some critical humanitarian operations.

“We are approaching a point of no return. Members of the international community, particularly Members of this Council must urgently come together in support of the Syrian people,” she added. “This Council must also request the parties to ensure the safe and unimpeded access of aid organizations to those in need in all areas of Syria.”

Contrary to widely held perceptions, aid-flows across the Turkish border to Aleppo have been significantly reduced in the past two months while humanitarian convoys are regularly attacked or shot at and staff intimidated or kidnapped, she said.

Syria’s main cities have been devastated, waste is piling up, and concerns about outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera are growing absent the urgent restoration of the most basic services. In Aleppo, doctors lack blood banks, anaesthetic or even suture thread while the hospital and its staff are regularly hit during fighting.

Children are among those who suffer most with three million already affected, including 2 million displaced, Ms. Amos said, noting that children have been murdered, tortured and subjected to sexual violence, many do not have enough food to eat and millions have been traumatised by the horrors they have witnessed.

Ms. Amos was able to report some improvement in funding, with about half of the $1.5 billion required to cover Syria’s humanitarian needs until June now received thanks to the recent allocation of the $300 million pledged by Kuwait in January.

“We all look to this Council to guarantee the peace and security of the people of our world,” she concluded. “My appeal to this Council is on behalf of the Syrian people but it is also on behalf of all those seeking to assist them. We are losing hope. We cannot do our jobs properly. We look to you to take the action necessary to end this brutal conflict.”

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warned the Council that without an end to the fighting soon, almost half of Syria’s 20.8 million people could be in need of humanitarian help by the end of this year, noting that 400,000 refugees had fled in the last seven weeks alone, bringing those registered as refugees or waiting to be registered to 1,367,413.

If current trends continue, he said, then by the end of the year there may be up to 3.5 million Syrians refugees, together with 6.5 million people inside Syria who may be in need of help, he said by video-link from Geneva.

Zainab Bangura, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said women and children are being raped and abducted, with both Government and opposition forces allegedly involved. “We have watched, we have discussed, and now it is time to take concrete action,” she told the 15-member body.

For her part, Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, also pleaded for a halt to the fighting to protect Syria’s children.

“Despite progress, Yemen’s transition remains fragile,” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said at the opening of the latest ‘Friends of Yemen’ meeting in London.

Thirty-nine organizations and countries attended the meeting to discuss the political, economic, security and humanitarian sectors in Yemen, which has been undergoing a democratic transition, under the leadership of President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour, who came to power in the February 2012 election.

Feltman noted that the meeting comes at a “critical juncture” in the transition process – just after the anniversary of Hadi’s election and on the eve of the start of the much anticipated all-inclusive national dialogue, which will feed into a constitution-making progress and pave the way for general elections to be held in 2014.

“President Hadi and the Government have called for sustained international support to Yemeni efforts to keep the process on track. The Friends of Yemen should live up to this call,” he told participants, reminding them that they have a solemn responsibility to stand by the people of Yemen and see the transition succeed.

In the outcome document from the meeting, participants, among other things, stressed their full support for the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen, and reiterated the importance for the transition to be inclusive and a Yemeni-led process.

Also speaking at the meeting, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said the country stands at a “serious crossroad in its transition” with critical stages still ahead such as the upcoming national dialogue conference, building a new constitution and electoral reform.

“All this against a grave and serious backdrop of a humanitarian crisis for which funding remains critically short, a fragile economy with Yemenis yet to feel a tangible impact on their daily lives, and multiple conflicts continuing across the country…” he stated.

On the positive side, he said the national dialogue conference is a sign that “there is a new politics in the making in Yemen.” The UN has been aiding the preparations for the conference, which is being organized by the “most inclusive committee in Yemen’s political history” – including a range of political party leaders, youth, women, members of the Al Houthi armed group and southern separatists.

In addition, the UN in Yemen developed an Integrated Programme and established a Trust Fund to pool international aid for non-humanitarian projects. Pledges currently stand at $17 million.

Benomar also urged Yemen to establish a commission of inquiry to address transitional justice, and to reach consensus on how to address the legacy of the past, saying that “only with these steps, can Yemen open a new page and ensure a path to national reconciliation.”

Ahead of today’s meeting, UN aid agencies and their partners stressed that there would be no prospects for recovery and development in Yemen unless the humanitarian situation was urgently addressed.

In the past two years, violence forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. Most of those fleeing the violence last year in the south have now returned home. The humanitarian community said today that for the returns to be sustainable, “urgent assistance is required to restore damaged infrastructure and basic services and to re-establish law and order.”

The insecurity also led to the near-collapse of most basic services and an increase in poverty, causing alarming rates of food insecurity and malnutrition. More than 10 million people – almost half the country’s population – are estimated to need food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Child malnutrition rates are also among the highest in the world with close to half of Yemen’s children under five years – two million children – stunted and one million acutely malnourished.

The 2013 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan called for $716 million to provide emergency and early recovery assistance to 7.7 million of the country’s most vulnerable. The figure represents a 22 per cent increase over last year’s plan, which was only 58 per cent funded.

“New donor commitments towards the Humanitarian Response Plan will be critical – not only to addressing human suffering but also to make the progress towards recovery irreversible,” the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said in a press release issued on behalf of the Yemen Humanitarian Country Team.

“If stability is to be maintained and the cycle of violence broken, root causes of the conflict must be addressed, especially unemployment and poverty,” said the Team, which comprises 89 international and national organizations, including UN agencies, under the leadership of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator.

The Team called 2013 a crucial year for assistance, and also a “year of opportunity” to focus on building Yemenis’ resilience through restoration of livelihoods and capacity building for local organizations and communities.