UN News Today 28 April 2026 |

Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children

Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood as celebrities highlighted allegations of genocide, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement with the world largely silent about the emergency.

That’s the stark message from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) four years into the war between rival militaries, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative in the country, said that “in Darfur, children are being killed and maimed, uprooted…and pushed into extreme hunger, disease, and trauma”.

“I was in Darfur 20 years ago, and we had every Hollywood celebrity competing to get on the plane, to get on the bus, to get in the car. Now we have absolutely no attention on Darfur, no attention on Sudan, given the scale of the crisis. And the situation is far more complex than it was 20 years ago.”

Mr. Yett stressed that across the five Darfur states, more than five million children face “extreme deprivation”. 

And he said that in just the first 90 days of this year, at least 245 children were reportedly killed or injured, although the true toll is “likely far higher”.

Today, frontlines are “consistently moving” with active fighting also in the Kordofans and Blue Nile province. And just as in other modern conflicts, attack drones are being used widely with a rare intensity, the UNICEF representative stressed.

This has included drone strikes against humanitarian infrastructure and convoys. 

Just last Friday, a truck from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) carrying emergency shelter kits for displaced people in Tawila, came under drone attack in North Darfur.

All the supplies were destroyed, leaving over 1,300 families living in “desperate conditions” without shelter, UNHCR said in a statement on Sunday.

Syria: UN Human Rights reports discovery of recent mass graves

To Syria, where mass graves have been uncovered in the northeast of the country, including one reportedly at the site of a former detention centre run by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Armed Forces, SDF.

The discovery came during a just-concluded UN mission to Al-Hassakeh Governorate where first-hand testimonies described past and present human rights violations and abuses. 

These include a significant number of killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and the deportation of detainees to Iraq, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR. 

Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan also described growing protection concerns for people in southern Syria, because of “expanding operations by Israeli forces occupying these areas”:

“We have received reports of increased harassment and intimidation, detentions, interrogations, house searches and movement restrictions. In the Quneitra governorate, Israeli forces have reportedly erected checkpoints, searched residential properties, and arrested and detained civilians.” 

Mr. Al-Kheetan also noted the opening of a trial in Damascus of the former Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, and figures from his regime – mostly in absentia.

It’s “an important first step”, the OHCHR spokesperson said, describing how bereaved mothers have been arriving in tears at the courtroom. 

He also highlighted the arrest of former Syrian regime official Amjad Youssef, allegedly responsible for orchestrating a massacre in the Tadamon neighbourhood of Damascus in 2013.

Gulf land routes already expanding amid Strait of Hormuz shipping freeze

Amid the ongoing shipping freeze in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the Iran-US stand-off there, the UN has launched an online observatory to help keep goods moving along land corridors across the Gulf.

The new Observatory on Border Crossing Points of Gulf Countries was created by UNECE, the Economic Commission for Europe, following a meeting of Member States in Geneva.

It provides up-to-date information on border crossings and streamlined customs services where goods are checked only at the start and end of their journey – in line with the treaty agreed by Member States.

The observatory is available online and it is designed to improve transparency and planning as countries shift to land routes.

With more, here’s UNECE’s Jean Rodriguez:

“At the meeting this morning, it was stressed that transport routes between Turkey and the Gulf take approximately four days, which is much shorter than by sea. Overall, in the region, the two main bottlenecks remain the number of trucks and the number of drivers available, as well as issues concerning the visas for the drivers.”

Since Israel and the US began bombing Iran on 28 February and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Governments in the region have turned to land routes to transport food, pharmaceuticals and building supplies.

One of the main corridors runs across the Saudi desert, from Jeddah port in the west, and on to Gulf States in the east. 

UNECE says that road links between Türkiye and the Gulf now take around four days, significantly faster than sea routes. 

The UN agency notes that container traffic through Jeddah port has risen by 140 per cent, from 50,000 to 120,000 per week.

Daniel Johnson, UN News