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Deeply disturbed by continuing reports of the use of chemical weapons, as well as the use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Syria, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned any such use by any party to the conflict and stressed that the entire international community has the responsibility to hold the perpetrators to account.

Clashes between rival militias in the past few days have forced several thousand people to flee their homes in the Central African Republic (CAR) town of Bambari and seek shelter at a former cotton factory inside the compound of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, the UN refugee agency said today.

The United Nations humanitarian chief today urged the Security Council to do everything in its power to push for a political solution to end the conflict in Syria, as he described the immense suffering and destruction he witnessed for himself during a recent visit.

As a significant step towards preserving the world’s most important ancient crops for future generations, the head of the United Nations agriculture agency, together with scientists and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway, today witnessed a ceremony during which potato seeds were deposited to the “safety box” in Arctic seed vault.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has announced that a round of Libyan political dialogue began today in Skhirat, Morocco, with discussions expected to focus on expediting the process towards finalizing the Libyan Political Agreement, including reaching agreement on a Government of National Accord.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that it is strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services to accelerate progress in eliminating and eradicating neglected tropical diseases by 2020 that affect more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations.

A senior United Nations relief official today called on the international community to ramp up its support in response to the multifaceted humanitarian challenges affecting Chad, the seventh largest refugee-hosting country in the world.

Emergency relief teams from the United Nations have managed to reach more than 27,000 people in a town in South Sudan cut off by insecurity since March where “there were only some fish and a few tomatoes for sale in the market, and almost nobody had the means to buy them.”

Welcoming President Salva Kiir’s signing of the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the move is “a critical and necessary step towards ending the 20 month-long conflict that has devastated [the country] and subjected its people to unspeakable suffering.”

Sierra Leone today began its countdown to be declared by the World Health Organization as free of Ebola virus transmission as the West African nation’s President described the release of the last patient treated for the disease at a treatment centre as “the beginning of the end of Ebola.”