Briefing the Council via video teleconference, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, Guang Cong said, “the bilateral relationship between Sudan and South Sudan remains deeply affected by the war that started in April 2023” between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In particular, Cong said, “the conflict in Sudan continues to impact the security situation in South Sudan with cross-border movements of armed groups on both sides, increasing the insecurity in and around the border area.”
He told the Council that in this context, “South Sudan’s oil flow and exports through Sudan have experienced significant disruptions, resulting in a 24.5 percent contraction of its economy.”
Cong noted that “following increased bilateral engagement and new arrangements to improve security along the pipeline route and other installations, oil production and transportation resumed early this year.”
However, subsequent attacks by the RSF on oil installations in Port Sudan on 5-6 May, and another attack on 26
August on oil facilities in Heglig, near the Sudan – South Sudan border, resulted in oil spills, environmental damage and led to an emergency shutdown of operations.
Sudan’s Ambassador Ammar Mohammed Mahmoud Mohammed expressed “Sudan’s commitment to work closely with the government of South Sudan to enhance the role of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism and the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee,” expressing hope that both countries can activate bilateral mechanisms provided for existing agreements.
Mohammed said, “Sudan firmly believes that a sustainable solution to the Abyei question can only be achieved through sincere dialog and cooperation between the two nations, away from any escalation, in a way to bring lasting peace to the region.”
South Sudan’s Ambassador Sabino Edward Nyawella Amaikwey for his part said, “South Sudan has no intention to hinder or intervene in UNISFA’s mandate. The presence of South Sudan Defence Forces (SSPDF) in South Sudan’s territories is meant to protect civilians and discourage enterprise rivalry among communities.”
Cyberbullying affects one in ten young people, and the threat is growing. But there are ways to fight back. UNICEF Youth Advocate Abril Perazzini knows the problem because she experienced it—and she’s taking action to advance digital rights. Joanna Herat, a Senior Programme Specialist at UNESCO, explains how governments and schools can make the world online safer for students. As the world marks the International Day against Violence and Bullying at School, UNESCO is focusing on safety in the digital era.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, told the Security Council that “considerable challenges remain in achieving progress on the final status of Abyei,” including “the dynamics related to the ongoing war in the Sudan and the political uncertainty in South Sudan.”
Pobee said, “the political process between the Sudan and South Sudan on Abyei and border issues remains stalled, as it has been since the outbreak of the Sudan conflict in April 2023,” but noted that earlier this year, both parties had indicated to the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) strategic review team, “their openness to resuming contact on Abyei, with United Nations and African Union support.”
This was followed by a visit of the South Sudanese Foreign Minister to Port Sudan, last month where the two countries announced their intention to reactivate cooperation agreements focusing on security and the economy.
She welcomed “these movements towards dialogue” and urged both South Sudan and Sudan “to go beyond statements of intentions, and to accelerate the implementation of existing agreements, as well as use the coordination mechanisms established to address outstanding challenges.”
Pobee said, “the war in the Sudan and the continued influx of people displaced by the conflict continues to create economic hardship for the population of Abyei.”
She said, “funding challenges have had an impact on partners’ capacity for humanitarian support,” and noted that “the Food and Agriculture Organization was forced to cease its operations in Abyei at the end of July and the World Food Programme has reduced its footprint.”
Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, said that Resolution 2797 is “significant” as it “demonstrates a renewed international energy and determined action to resolve this conflict of 50 years.”
De Mistura Spoke to reporters today (5 Nov) from Brussels via video link.
He said, “In view of the strong support and substantive mandate provided by the Security Council Resolution 2797 to the Secretary General and his Personal Envoy, our own follow up plan will be initially to call all the parties to submit proposals and suggestions in order to allow the UN to develop a broad agenda for direct or even if necessary, indirect talks on the most relevant issues.”
The Personal Envoy also said, “We shall of course, as indicated in Resolution 2797, take the 2007 Moroccan autonomy plan as a basis for these negotiations and then soon, hopefully very soon, take into account Morocco’s expanded plan as an input, as well as using Frente POLISARIO’s paper and other relevant ideas.”
De Mistura expressed “satisfaction” for the extension of MINURSO until October 2026. “This would certainly help to create an atmosphere of stability needed to accompany the future negotiations,” he concluded.
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Lebanon/Israel
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Sudan/Chad
– Abyei
– South Sudan
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Central African Republic
– Hurricane Melissa
– Human Development
– Tsunami Awareness Day
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the UN and our partners are reaching more people every day with more supplies and services in all areas of the Gaza Strip, despite access restrictions, bureaucratic hurdles, congestion along transit routes and other impediments.
Today, UN agencies announced the launch of an integrated catch-up campaign for routine immunization, nutrition and growth monitoring, targeting 44,000 children who’ve been cut off from life-saving services due to the war. The UN Children’s Fund [UNICEF], UNRWA, and the World Health Organization will carry out the campaign with partners, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
Children will receive three doses of the Pentavalent, Polio, Rota, and Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccines, and two doses of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine. The first of three planned rounds will start this Sunday and run for 10 days, with vaccinations taking place at nearly 150 health facilities and 10 mobile clinics across the Gaza Strip.
Teams have already brought into the Gaza Strip all vaccines, syringes, cold chain equipment and nutrition supplies necessary for this campaign. Over 450 health workers and support staff, as well as nearly 150 doctors, have been trained.
The agencies stress that the campaign’s success depends on the full respect of the ceasefire so that families, health professionals, and other humanitarian workers can reach vaccination sites freely and safely.
Across Gaza, the number of daily meals being served by 183 community kitchens topped 1.2 million meals on Monday, with the UN and our partners supporting that scale-up. Compared with late September, this represents an increase of more than 80 per cent. You’ll recall that we’re also providing families with food parcels and other forms of food assistance.
Humanitarians are also working to improve access to water supplies, with more than 40 partner organizations operating nearly 1,900 water points. On Monday, the UN and our partners distributed 4,400 hygiene kits, as well as 2,900 buckets and 3,700 jerrycans to people in need.
Yesterday, the UN and our partners distributed hundreds of tarpaulins and hundreds of tents across the Strip to displaced families in need of urgent shelter support. On Sunday and Monday, they provided hundreds of families with cash-voucher assistance for clothing ahead of the winter.
Meanwhile, the UN and our partners keep moving cargo into Gaza and collecting more supplies from Gaza’s crossings. Just to give you a sense of the scale of these operations, on Monday, we were able to offload over 180 truckloads of critical supplies at the crossings, including more than 1,500 metric tonnes of food. And yesterday, our teams collected about 120 truckloads inside Gaza, carrying more than 580 pallets of blankets, tents, winter clothes, hygiene items and more. They also collected over 150,000 litres of fuel and over 90 metric tonnes of animal fodder. These numbers are preliminary, and as we’ve noted before, they exclude bilateral donations and the private sector…
SUDAN/CHAD
Turning to the horrifying situation in Sudan, the UN is deeply alarmed by mounting reports of grave violations against civilians as fighting continues in North Darfur State.
OCHA reports that local volunteers have documented executions, sexual violence, humiliation, extortion and attacks, among other systematic abuses, including against people fleeing the fighting following the Rapid Support Forces’ capture of the state capital, El Fasher, last week.
The International Organization for Migration says that nearly 82,000 people have fled El Fasher and surrounding areas since October 26th, including towards Tawila, which is already hosting hundreds of thousands who have fled previous attacks, with humanitarian needs far exceeding available resources.
The UN Population Fund reports that women and girls faced rape, abduction and other extreme violence while escaping El Fasher. Other local sources report that about 1,300 people with gunshot wounds arrived in the locality of Tawila after being attacked as they escaped the city….
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-05
World Food Programme (WFP) officials in the Caribbean briefed journalists in New York on the impact of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti and ongoing response and operations to support those affected.
From Jamaica, the Country Director for WFP’s Multi-Country Caribbean Office, Brian Bogart, said, “many people across Jamaica have lost their homes, they’ve lost their livelihoods, and they’re still in shock.”
Bogart said, “the Jamaican people are resilient. They tell us they are. We see that they are. But they need urgent support to maintain that resilience.”
He said, WFP “has managed to airlift 2000 food kits from a regional logistics hub that we have established for the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency in Barbados to Kingston, and we continue to airlift additional supplies while we’re sending up a commodity pipeline of assistance from markets here in Jamaica and working with national authorities to coordinate delivery of that assistance to people in need by air and by road.”
Bogart stressed WFP’s “commitment to meet the most urgent needs of the people in Jamaica and to support long term recovery efforts to ensure that the people of this country remain food secure.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 1.5 million people – over half of Jamaica’s population – have been affected by Melissa, facing the loss of their homes and livelihoods.
More than 130 roads have been blocked, while power and communication networks have been disrupted. Access to some western parishes remains difficult due to roads being blocked by debris as well as fuel shortages.
Health services are under heavy strain, as several hospitals and clinics were damaged or destroyed, including the hospital in the town of Black River.
WFP estimates that up to 360,000 people may require food assistance. Meanwhile, UNICEF and its partners are working to restore safe water and sanitation services, particularly in shelters and affected communities.
WFP’s Country Director in Cuba, Etienne Labande, for his part praised the Cuban Government’s anticipatory actions, which he said, “demonstrated not only saved lives, they also optimise resources and reinforce the resilience of Cuba’s emergency response system.”
Labande said, “the ongoing response is an outcome of preparedness work alongside the Cuban government. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of the shock to protection centres, and WFP and the government prepositioned food supplies to support 275,000 people for up to 60 days.”
Pending permitting, he said, WFP plans to assist “900,000 people for three months and half of those in need of assistance for an additional three months.”
The United Nations in Cuba, Labande continued, has finalised its response plan, “which has been approved by the government and will be launched officially tomorrow from La Habana, appealing for a total of 74 million US dollars, all sectors included, and aiming at assisting around a million persons affected over a period of 12 months, including the recovery period.”
In Doha today, Secretary-General António Guterres met with Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and discussed the impact of climate change on the Caribbean, and the devastation left recently by hurricane Melissa.
The Prime Minister commended the United Nations team’s response and support to Cuba in these difficult circumstances, while the Secretary-General assured the Prime Minister of the United Nations’ solidarity and continued aid to Cuba in this regard.
Turning to Haiti, Labande said, “even before Melissa hit one in two Haitians were already severely food insecure. Armed groups controlled large areas of the capital and other regions, complicating food movements within the country. Our colleagues are reporting that homes and infrastructure have been washed away along the southern coast, where 1,250,000 people, estimated to be affected by the hurricane.”
The UN and partners in Haiti, continue to carry out assessments of the damage wreaked by Hurricane Melissa and are ramping up our efforts to reach people in need. According to the authorities, at least 30 people have died.
OCHA continues to work closely with authorities and partners to ensure a coherent, efficient, and well-coordinated response, facilitating information sharing and supporting collective efforts to reach affected populations. The $908 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for is just over 21 percent funded with $195 million received so far.
President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock visited the al-Thumama Complex in Doha, Qatar. The complex was developed for the FIFA World Cup 2022 but now is hosting Palestinian refugees. She spoke with children many of whom are orphans, women undergoing vocational training, and those seriously injured – who were evacuated from Gaza in the aftermath of the war in the Strip.
The Secretary-General spoke to the opening session of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar today, and he warned that today, we are at a moment of high global uncertainty with crises on going in terms of poverty, inequality, and climate.
He saluted the adopted Doha Political Declaration as a “booster shot for development,” describing it as a people-centered plan requiring urgent action in four areas: accelerating poverty and inequality reduction, job creation, increased financing for developing countries, and greater social inclusion. The Declaration, Mr. Guterres said, calls for targeted investments, climate finance, and inclusive governance.
The Secretary-General urged governments and partners to mobilize the political will and resources to realize the Declaration’s ambitious vision for sustainable development. This Summit, he said in closing, is all about hope – hope through collective action that is so desperately needed to continue the journey that we began together thirty years ago in Copenhagen.
He spoke to the press in Doha about the Political Declaration, and he also discussed the horrifying crisis in Sudan, which he said is spiralling out of control, and about the continued violations of the ceasefire in Gaza.
On Sudan, he said that, for over 18 months, El Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur have been an epicentre of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement. And since the Rapid Support Forces entered El Fasher last weekend, the situation is growing worse by the day.
He once again called for an immediate end to this unimaginable violence; for the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to all civilians in need; for an end to the flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan; and for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Regarding Gaza, the Secretary-General said that all parties must abide by the decisions of the first phase of the peace agreement. And he stressed the need to establish a credible political path towards ending the occupation, realizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and leading to a two-state solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/DOHA
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, arrives in Doha, Qatar, today to attend the Second World Summit for Social Development. The Deputy Secretary-General will meet with senior government officials from Qatar and other delegations, as well as civil society representatives, youth, and other stakeholders, to discuss how to translate commitments made at the Summit into tangible progress on the ground.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Secretary-General will depart Qatar on Wednesday to head to Brazil, where he will attend the Belém Climate Summit, which will be held ahead of the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, taking place in Belém from November 10 to 21.
The Secretary-General will speak at the opening of the General Plenary of Leaders on Thursday, where he is expected to stress that in this critical moment for our planet and the billions of lives and livelihoods it sustains, every leader must confront some stark truths.
Noting that newly submitted Nationally Determined Contributions represent progress, the Secretary-General will say that policies and plans governments have put on the table still fall far short of a credible pathway to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as agreed by all Member States in the Paris Agreement. The truth, the Secretary-General will warn, is that the climate crisis is accelerating.
The Secretary-General will also highlight that another truth is that we have never been better equipped to fight back, emphasizing that this COP must ignite a decade of acceleration and delivery. While in Belém, the Secretary-General will also meet with leaders attending the conference. The Secretary-General is expected back in New York on 9 November.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-04
World leaders are gathering in Doha, Qatar, for a high-level UN conference aimed at reigniting the vision of people-centred, inclusive development.
From 4 to 6 November, Heads of State, ministers, civil society, youth and private sector representatives will assess progress, confront persistent gaps, and chart a renewed path forward to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
