UN News Today 11 August 2026 |

Myanmar: UN investigators document deliberate military attacks on civilians 

Myanmar’s military has carried out a campaign of deliberate attacks on civilians – including airstrikes on homes, schools and camps, alongside torture and sexual violence, Human Rights Council-appointed investigators said on Tuesday.

Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said that his team had collected evidence of where attacks have occurred and the munitions used.

“One of the areas that we’re concentrating on is, because of the suffering that’s happening in Myanmar, are the airstrikes that are occurring. We note in particular there are many airstrikes targeting, hitting, schools; children are often the victims of these airstrikes and also hospitals.”

Myanmar has been engulfed in conflict since the military seized power in February 2021, overthrowing the civilian government and arresting top leaders including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Attacks intensified in the run-up to elections completed in January and have not let up since, the report found.

The coup also triggered nationwide protests and subsequent armed resistance movements which now control large areas of Myanmar.

The mechanism highlighted the military’s growing use of motorised power gliders which cut their engines before dropping bombs on communities “with no warning”.

Colombia earthquake: International teams standing by

As earthquake rescue efforts across western Colombia continued on Tuesday, UN agencies said that they stood ready to help “with everything we’ve got” if and when the request came from the authorities for international assistance.

Official data indicate that 1,495 people have been injured and at least 126 have died.

Monday’s 7.4 magnitude quake flattened homes and buildings in the west of the country and caused landslides, said Jens Laerke, from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA:

“For the moment, there has not been any official request for international assistance, that is just as I speak, that may, of course, change. Should that happen, the entire UN system and, of course, humanitarians in particular, stand ready to support with everything we’ve got.”

Nearly 5,000 homes have been damaged and 387 have been destroyed; 61 buildings have collapsed along with more than 550 educational institutions; 24 health facilities and more than 350 community centres have also been affected, so far.

According to the Colombian Geological Service, the quake’s epicentre was the largest seismic event recorded in the country this century.

Ebola outbreak passes grim new threshold with 2,000 dead – OCHA 

The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, has now claimed more than 2,000 lives, with half of that number in just the last 20 days. 

In response to the latest Government update, a senior UN official in DRC, Julien Harneis, urged all of those involved in the response to “do more, and do it today, to save lives and stop Ebola”.

The outbreak is the fastest growing on record since being officially declared in mid-May.

The Ebola Bundibugyo virus is proving hard to control in eastern DRC because of ongoing violence by non-State armed groups in the remote and mineral-rich region and a lack of accessible healthcare for vulnerable populations.

Just three months into this Ebola emergency, the death toll is already close to the total number of people killed in the 2018 to 2020 epidemic.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.