Overview
- UN Under‑Secretary‑General Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on June 26 that the opportunity to avert a major escalation around El Obeid is rapidly narrowing.
- Over the past two weeks drone strikes have risen and the Rapid Support Forces have expanded their positions in and around the North Kordofan capital, heightening the chance of a large ground assault.
- UNICEF warned that about 500,000 civilians are at acute risk and that the UN has verified more than 5,700 grave violations against children with over 5,000 children killed or maimed since the war began.
- Humanitarian routes and services have been damaged and blocked, prompting calls from the UK and UN for immediate, safe, and unhindered aid access with security guarantees for relief workers.
- Diplomatic efforts led by the Quad, the UN Personal Envoy Pekka Haavisto and the Quintet are pressing for a humanitarian truce while the UN urges external actors to stop supplying the sophisticated weapons that sustain the fighting.