UN News Today 19 December 2025 |

Sudan war: Kordofan’s El-Obeid ‘one or two steps’ away from being attacked 

Fighting continues to escalate in Sudan where “people are scared (and) fleeing their homes”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. 

The agency said that more than 50,000 people have been uprooted since late October in the Kordofans region alone.   

More than half a million could be impacted in the city of El-Obeid – capital of North Kordofan – is attacked, which appears increasingly likely. 

Here’s IOM’s chief of mission in Sudan, Mohamed Refaat: 

“Those displacements from Kordofan are not happening sporadically, they are happening because people are scared. They are fleeing from areas in Babanusa and other areas around Kadugli, around El-Obeid. And those are still – those who are lucky to flee – they start arriving in areas in White Nile and Gedaref and they are arriving only women and children.” 

Latest reports from the wartorn country indicate that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) along with allies in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) shelled residential buildings in Dilling, South Kordofan, in the last 48 hours.  

The RSF have been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023 following a breakdown in transition to civilian rule.  

Gaza: Famine is averted but a third child dies of hypothermia, says UNICEF 

To Gaza, where a third child has died from hypothermia this month linked to the terrible living conditions caused by the war between Hamas fighters and Israel. 

Announcing the news, Ricardo Pires from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that the youngster/toddler? had succumbed to the cold on Thursday: 

“In December, up to now, three children have died of hypothermia, including yesterday a 29-month-old child. So will a baby who couldn’t endure the disease and the cold temperatures and the lack of medical infrastructure – and medicines and support to help her survive so that the baby died 29-month-old of hypothermia.”

Latest data from the global authority on food insecurity released on Friday indicated that nutrition levels have improved in Gaza since the ceasefire began in October compared to August, when famine was detected. 

In a statement, the food insecurity platform said that despite this improvement, most Gazans “continued to face high levels of acute food insecurity”. 

This includes more than half a million facing “emergency” levels of hunger and more than 100,000 in “catastrophe” – the highest level of alert. 

DR Congo: Victims of flare-up in east fleeing in greater numbers to Burundi, says UNHCR 

To the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where escalating clashes between government forces and M23 rebels in South Kivu province have uprooted half a million people and pushed tens of thousands to neighbouring Burundi. 

In an update, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the total number of Congolese refugees and asylum-seekers in Burundi is now more than 200,000. 

This has created a humanitarian crisis that requires immediate global support, said Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, UNHCR Representative in Burundi: 

 “So, on that side people are coming to Burundi on boats. And some of those boats are just in very bad condition. And some of them capsized two days ago, creating some people who are drowned.” 

The UNHCR official said that shelters and transit centres are overwhelmed, and meaning that hundreds of families are having to go without water and sanitation. 

“Immediate supplies, especially more shelters, latrines, water, food and medical stocks, are critical to ensure people can access the help they need,” insisted Ms. Mukanga-Eno.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.