Ukraine, Black Sea Grain Initiative, Kenya & other…

Linked to that initiative, the first maritime shipment of Ukrainian wheat for humanitarian operations run by the UN World Food Programme left Ukraine today.                                  

On Kenya, a very short while ago the Secretary-General spoke by phone with William Ruto, and will try to speak with Raila Odinga tomorrow, based on Mr. Odinga’s own availability.

Today, the Secretary-General has appointed ten high-level and eminent persons to serve on his inaugural Internet Governance Forum Leadership Panel.

Turning to Myanmar, yesterday we issued a press statement for the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, who travelled yesterday to that country.  

And an update from Mali, where UN peacekeeping troop rotations resumed yesterday with a contingent from Bangladesh. Some 400 soldiers from Senegal are also slated to rotate soon. 

The UN Peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reports that it evacuated 16 civilians who were seriously wounded during an attack carried out by Zaire militia in the Damas area in Ituri province. 

We have an update from our team in Cuba, led by the Resident Coordinator Consuelo Vidal, as they continue engaging with the Government and partners to support needs, following the multiple explosions of fuel tanks in the province of Matanzas nine days ago. 

An interesting event took place in the Swiss capital of Bern. The President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, and the Minister of Justice of Uzbekistan, Ruslanbek Davletov, signed an agreement on the restitution of funds to be returned to the people of Uzbekistan through a UN-managed trust fund to support the ongoing work of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Central Asian country.

Lastly, today marks five years since the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force.