UN News Today 14 April 2025 |

Sudan: UN chief condemns killings amid gains by rebel forces in Darfur

In Sudan, scores of civilians have been reported killed in attacks on the town of El Fasher, Zamzam displacement camp and other locations that are in the path of advancing paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Condemning the killings, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the dead also included at least nine personnel from the international humanitarian organization Relief International.

They were killed at a health centre in Zamzam camp where they were providing emergency healthcare support, the UN chief said. He noted that more than 90 aid workers have been killed in Sudan since heavy fighting began there in April 2023.

Almost two years to the day since the Sudan war erupted between rival generals vying for power, Mr. Guterres renewed his call for the international community to unite and bring an end to the conflict, which he said had caused “appalling suffering”.

Israeli attack puts Gaza City hospital out of service

A Gaza City hospital has been put out of action by an Israeli strike at the weekend, while a child patient with reported head trauma died while being evacuated, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The UN health agency told UN News that the airstrike early on Sunday morning had destroyed the pharmacy and many other buildings and services at Al Ahli Hospital.

WHO said that around 40 patients whose condition is too critical to be moved from the health facility are continuing to receive care; another 50 patients – including the child who died – were evacuated to other medical centres.

Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, stressed that the hospital strike will put “an immense additional strain” on the enclave’s remaining hospitals which are only partially operational:

“Mass casualty events are now the norm and those hospitals that are treating trauma patients are doing so amid severe shortages of critical supplies, including critical medicine…Supplies that we had are rapidly running out and we’re running out of food of medicine, of shelter and every other life-critical item if the situation does not change immediately.”

It has now been seven weeks since crossings were closed to all relief supplies meant for the people of Gaza, and nearly a month since Israeli bombardment resumed, amid disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the terms of a ceasefire extension that include the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Myanmar: Farmers short of crops as rice fields are wiped out

To Myanmar, where rural communities who’ve been severely impacted by the earthquake disaster have received critical help from the UN to maintain their fields and harvest.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, has warned that 3.7 million hectares of cropland have been impacted; it says that a full 80 per cent of Myanmar’s corn and one third of its cereal production could miss the planting window in June, bringing devastating food shortages.

To help, the UN agency has offered financial assistance and distributed vegetable production kits that can be harvested within four to six weeks. The packs include essential seeds such as corn, groundnut, sesame, pulses and rice, as well as and fertilizers.

The challenge is massive however because the earthquake damaged fields, irrigation infrastructure, storage facilities and agricultural equipment. Many farmers also lost their crops of rice, oilseed and vegetables – the so-called “standing crops” that were destroyed just before they were due to be harvested.

Daniel Johnson, UN News

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