This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Sudan’s warring parties take ‘important first step’: UN envoy

A declaration by Sudan’s warring parties committing to protect civilians is an “important first step” after more than three weeks of heavy fighting, the UN’s top official in the African nation said on Friday.

Volker Perthes – UN Special Representative for Sudan and Head of the Transition Assistance Mission in the country – underscored that the rival military leaderships had agreed to respect international humanitarian and human rights law, and withdraw fighters from hospitals and medical facilities.

Mr. Perthes also noted that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces had committed to keep talking in the Saudi city of Jeddah, towards a potential ceasefire.

Here’s he is speaking to reporters in Geneva, from Port Sudan:

“Of course, the aim is to have a ceasefire which is also mutually agreed, which I hope would give more stability and more respect to a ceasefire than when it is only based on unilateral declarations. […] In an agreement, which we hope the mediators, Saudis and Americans, will reach within the next couple of days, we would have more provisions about what the nature and the modalities of the ceasefire actually are.” 

Mr. Perthes also expressed hope that the parties will “do what they can” to communicate down the chain of command that the humanitarian commitments agreed to in Jeddah must be honoured.

Over 500 killed by Malian troops, foreign military personnel in 2022 operation

There are “strong indications” that more than 500 people were killed – the vast majority summarily executed – by Malian troops and foreign military personnel during a five-day operation in the village of Moura in central Mali in March 2022.

That’s according to a fact-finding report from the UN human rights office (OHCHR) released on Friday, on what the Malian authorities had described as an anti-terrorist military operation against an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Katiba Macina.

The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, called the findings “extremely disturbing” and stressed that “summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity”.

OHCHR said that the Malian authorities had repeatedly denied requests by the fact-finding team to access the village of Moura itself. Witnesses interviewed by the team reported seeing “armed white men” who spoke an unknown language operating alongside the Malian forces. At least 58 women and girls were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence.

Vulnerable communities, refugees brace for ‘dangerous’ tropical cyclone

Tropical cyclone Mocha has intensified in the Bay of Bengal and could have major humanitarian impacts as soon as the coming weekend, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.

Already classified as “very dangerous”, Mocha is forecasted to intensify further before it makes landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar’s Rakhine State, on Sunday, around noon local time.

Violent winds and a storm surge of up to 2.5 meters above the normal tide level are projected, with a risk of heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides.

Communities and aid organizations are preparing to help mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable, by training volunteers, pre-positioning supplies and organizing mobile medical teams.

Cox’s Bazar hosts the world’s largest refugee camp, home to some one million Rohingya refugees. Across Rakhine and Myanmar’s north-west, there are already about six million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million displaced.

Matt Wells, UN News.