World News in Brief: Risk of atrocities in Sudan, UN programme prevents climate displacement, more civilians killed in Ukraine

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Drone attacks by advancing rebel fighters who are besieging El Obeid, Sudan, continue to result in civilian casualties, putting around half a million civilians at grave risk of large-scale atrocities.

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday that drone strikes had recently damaged schools, a site housing internally displaced people and fuel stations and tankers amid a significant buildup of Rapid Support Forces militia and allied troops in the North Kordofan capital.

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Several Member States are warning that an increasing number of deadly airstrikes have destroyed basic services, causing severe fuel and water shortages. 

“Siege-like conditions” have also left thousands trapped in El Obeid town cut off from basic services, according to officials from Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Concern is growing that the city may suffer the fate of El Fasher in Western Darfur earlier this year, where the RSF has been accused of carrying out grave rights violations – including in a new report from NGO Amnesty International on Wednesday. 

Following a request from those five Member States, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will hold an urgent debate on Friday to discuss an international response to the human rights situation in Sudan.

Ongoing violations

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern on 18 June about the RSF’s rapid buildup near El Obeid, warning that “the risk of summary executions, abduction, arbitrary detention and other violence against civilians is high, and must be prevented.”

Sudan has been engulfed in war since 2023, when fighting erupted between the formerly allied Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. 

The war has displaced more than 14 million people internally and driven millions more to the brink of famine, with humanitarian access severely constrained across much of the country.

Conflict disrupts cholera response

Sudan also faces concurrent outbreaks of cholera, malaria and dengue fever. The country currently has 1,102 cholera cases and 120 deaths since the outbreak began on Monday, said Dr. Shible Sahbani, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and Head of Mission in Sudan.

But the ongoing conflict has left 40 per cent of health facilities in Sudan non-functional and the remaining 60 per cent only partially functional, Dr. Sahbani said at a press conference on Wednesday.

In response, Dr. Sahbani said the UN and its partners have rapidly mobilized to provide crucial support on the ground. Humanitarian partners have provided cholera kits to treat at least 3,000 patients, supported cholera treatment facilities and began a preventive campaign targeting more than 200,000 people.

UN launches programme to prevent climate displacement

The European Union (EU) and UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration (IOM) have launched a new regional programme to help southern African nations better anticipate, prevent and respond to climate displacement.

Climate-related displacement continues to rise in Sub-Saharan Africa, which experiences recurring cyclones, floods and droughts. In 2025, disasters were linked to 2.9 million internal displacements, according to the IOM.

“Communities across Southern Africa are already living with the consequences of a changing climate,” said Fatma Said, IOM Chief of Mission in Malawi.

Funded by the EU and implemented by the IOM in partnership with others, the Regional Responses to Climate Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa (RE2CLID) Programme aims to strengthen preparedness, improve data and forecasting, and support solutions that reduce displacement risks.

Government partnerships

Officially launched on 15 June in Malawi, the programme will support governments and local authorities to better understand displacement risks and integrate them into climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and development planning, the IOM wrote in a Wednesday press release.

Along with national authorities, the IOM will also engage regional organizations, local authorities, ministries, government departments, district councils, traditional leaders and civil society partners to promote coordinated and locally driven responses.

“The RE2CLID Programme provides an important opportunity to better understand displacement risks and strengthen our capacity to prevent, prepare for and respond to them,” said Patricia Wiskes, Malawi’s minister of natural resources.

More than 40 civilians killed in Ukraine

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Between 26 June and Wednesday morning, hostilities and strikes killed more than 40 civilians and injured over 460 others in Ukraine, the UN’s aid coordination office (OCHA) confirmed.

The Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions were among the hardest hit over the past few days as attacks across the country continue to kill and injure civilians, damage critical civilian infrastructure and disrupt essential services.

Two civilians were killed and eight others were injured in a drone strike on a public bus in Kherson city on Wednesday. Similar attacks have also occurred in the Zaporizhzhia region in recent days.

Humanitarian emergency continues

In the Sumy region, attacks on fuel stations have raised concerns over fuel availability for emergency services, humanitarian operations and civilian transportation. A social service centre was destroyed, and strikes on Wednesday caused civilian casualties.

The strikes have left parts of six regions on the frontline without electricity, the Ukrainian minister of energy said.

UN-supported humanitarian organisations have provided first aid and psychological support and distributed emergency shelter materials, water and snacks to Ukrainian civilians.