More than 10 people were killed and several others injured in a drone strike on Tuesday in the town of Um Dukhun in Central Darfur state, according to local sources.
“We strongly condemn this and all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Dujarric said. told Journalist in New York.
Meanwhile, about 115 people were forced to flee their homes due to insecurity in a village in the Kutum area of North Darfur state last Sunday.
According to the International Organization for Migration, he has sought asylum in the regional capital, El Fasher (IOM).
childhood vaccination campaign
Despite many challenges, the United Nations and partners continue to respond to needs across Sudan, where a brutal civil war has entered its fourth year.
united nations health agency Who is in the middle of a six-day “big catch up” vaccination campaign that aims to reach more than 81,000 young children in eight areas of West Darfur state.
“Once again, we reiterate the need for safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access, as well as flexible funding, to reach those most in need and support the most vulnerable,” Mr Dujarric said.
100 million people in more than 60 countries live at risk of landmines
With conflicts escalating around the world, demining experts issued an alert on Wednesday that highlighted the growing threats posed by unexploded ordnance – both today and decades from now.
Every year, thousands of people are killed or injured in land contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war. Nine out of 10 of the victims are civilians – half of them children, according to UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
The agency has convened national demining experts and partners from around the world to its annual meeting in Geneva, where UNMAS Director Kazumi Ogawa said conflict “has continued or deepened in many regions of the world, leaving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people at risk from mines and explosive ordnance”.
also in the meeting Poet Maryam Booker Hassan, United Nations Global Advocate for Peace, The impact of landmines on communities in the war-torn Borno state in Nigeria is described:
She said, “I come from Borno state in Nigeria and it ranks fifth globally in terms of civilian casualties. So, this is not far-fetched, nor is it abstract to me.”
Hear more of her moving testimony below:
Ms Hassan said years of insurgency in Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria have left the land badly polluted with landmines.
In 2023 alone, “lives and bodies were altered” due to “hundreds of explosions,” he added, while in 2024, more than 400 civilians were killed and injured by landmines.
“That’s what (landmines) do. They don’t ask who you are. They don’t care which side you’re from, they don’t recognize the ceasefire,” said the UN peace advocate.
Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention – known as the Ottawa Treaty – is one of the most successful international disarmament treaties. UNMAS chief Ms Ogawa told journalists in Geneva that it was regrettable that some states are now withdrawing from the treaty.
Singapore: Turks call for moratorium on executions
Human rights chief Volker Turk has expressed concern over the increase in death sentences for drug-related crimes in Singapore and urged immediate ban on death penalty.
So far this year, eight people have been hanged for drug crimes. In 2025, 15 of the 17 people on death row had drug-related convictions.
Last week, Omar bin Yacoub Bamadhaj was hanged for cannabis smuggling after his family received only two weeks’ notice.
Mr Turk said, “At every level, taking this man’s life is both cruel and inhumane.”
The United Nations opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and supports its abolition worldwide, citing the risk of executing an innocent person and its incompatibility with human dignity.
According to UN data, more than two-thirds of countries have now abolished it in law or practice, showing a clear global trend towards abolition.
