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

Highlights:
- Senior Personnel Appointments
- Deputy Secretary-General
- Security Council
- Sudan
- Sudan Children
- Syria
- Middle East
- Refugees
- Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
- Victims of Torture
- Briefings Today
- Children and Armed Conflict

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS
Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Haoliang Xu of China as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Mr. Xu will succeed Usha Rao-Monari of India, to whom the Secretary-General has expressed his appreciation for her service and commitment during her tenure as Associate Administrator.
Mr. Xu has been serving as the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP since 2019. His background includes his time as the UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, a position he held between 2013 and 2019.
And the Secretary-General is also appointing Aarti Holla-Maini of the United Kingdom as Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), which is based in Vienna.
She will succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization. The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Chief, Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section, Niklas Hedman, who will continue to serve as Acting Director of the Office of Outer Space Affairs until Ms. Holla-Maini assumes this position.
Ms. Holla-Maini brings to this position over 25 years of professional experience in the space sector including in managerial and advocacy functions. Most recently, she has held the role of Executive Vice-President Sustainability, Policy & Impact at NorthStar Earth & Space; prior to which she spent over 18 years as Secretary-General of the Global Satellite Operators Association.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
Over the weekend, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, was in Shanghai, China. She participated in roundtables with business leaders including some international chambers of commerce to highlight the importance of sustainability, technology, innovation and Artificial Intelligence to deal with the challenges of climate change as well as accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
On the sidelines of her trip, Ms. Mohammed also traveled to Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province and visited the UN Global Geographic Information Knowledge and Innovation Center, which seeks to strengthen data for the Sustainable Development Goals.

SECURITY COUNCIL
Martha Pobee, the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
She told Council members that over the past three months, the security situation has continued to deteriorate in Ituri and North Kivu, despite a lull in armed clashes between the M23 and the Congolese armed forces.
However, she added, the withdrawal of M23 from the occupied areas has been piecemeal, tactical and political. The armed group still controls a large part of the Masisi and Rutshuru territories, and its offensive repositioning in recent weeks has raised fears that hostilities could flare up again at any moment. Ms. Pobee said that in Ituri, over 600 people were killed by armed groups in the past 3 months.
She reiterated our call on all armed groups to cease hostilities and for a redeployment of national security forces, particularly in Ituri, to restore State authority in this area.
Turning to the peacekeeping mission transition, Ms. Pobee noted the will of the Congolese authorities to accelerate the transition, she added that during his visit to the country earlier this month, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Head of Peace operations, encouraged the finalization of the revised transition plan.

SUDAN
The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan – otherwise known as UNITAMS – expressed today its grave concern about the recent violence in Kurmuk locality of the Blue Nile Region on 25 and 26 June. As a result of this violence, hundreds of civilians have crossed into Ethiopia for safety, while others appear to be preparing to move towards Damazine located to the South of Khartoum.
The Mission urges all parties involved to immediately cease fighting in the interest of protecting the local population, and urges all warring parties, in the Blue Nile region, Khartoum, North and South Kordofan states, Darfur and elsewhere, to resort to dialogue to resolve differences and to ensure dignity and respect for all Sudanese as equal citizens.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=26%20June%202023