Interviews

Amidst ongoing armed conflict in Sudan, where millions of civilians are left displaced and food insecure, Deputy Executive Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), Carl Skau, visited the nation where he said a window of opportunity to reach civilians is rapidly closing as the rainy season approaches. 

Mr. Skau noted that the Sudanese want to see an end to the conflict. He further warned that famine may be approaching and WFP is currently only able to reach about 30 per cent of about 18 million acutely food-insecure people.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing and raising concerns on the battlefield, particularly lethal autonomous weapons systems, commonly known as “killer robots”.

The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) works to increase understanding of the risks and implications of AI for international peace and security. 

UN News’s Sachin Gaur spoke to Shimona Mohan, UNIDIR Associate Researcher, who focuses on the intersection of gender, disarmament and emerging technologies such as AI.

A breakthrough in Libya cannot be achieved if leaders continue to monopolise the political process, the outgoing head of the UN mission in the country, UNSMIL, has said.

Libya has remained mired in deep crisis since the postponement of national elections, originally planned for December 2021.

UN Special Representative Abdoulaye Bathily called on leaders to “have a sense of history” and “think about the future of their country”, pointing to their long-standing impasse.

Two arson attacks which followed weeks of protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its compound in East Jerusalem on Thursday.

The developments are part of a wider campaign to undermine the agency, said Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler.

UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri asked him about these incidents, intimidation of UNRWA staff, and their commitment to stay and deliver amid the war in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank.

Amid intensified settlement building and the increased use of war tactics by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the number of casualties and injuries in the West Bank are now the highest on record, said the head of the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Wednesday.

Ajith Sunghay, told Anton Uspensky of UN News that “whatever happens in Gaza has a massive impact on the West Bank” while violations of Palestinians’ rights have intensified at the hands of “emboldened” settlers.

Despite the risk of new strikes in Rafah, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners continue to establish field hospitals and get services back online at the shattered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.

 Dr. Ahmed Dahir, Team Lead with the WHO office in Gaza, told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that conditions have reached an “unprecedented emergency level”.

Dr. Dahir is currently in Rafah and has been describing the “crucial steps” being taken to prepare for any large-scale Israeli military operations in the coming hours.

After more than a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries across Sudan, the last Government-held stronghold in Darfur of El Fasher is in danger of slipping into famine unless rebel fighters end their siege.

That’s according to the UN’s Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Harward who told UN News that if the fighting for control continues it will trigger revenge attacks across Darfur and a slide into the atrocities that unfolded there two decades ago.

Abdelmonem Makki began by asking him to describe the latest situation in El Fasher.