The international consultations are taking place at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday 21 October, bringing together 22 country delegations and five international and regional organisations (Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

What to expect from Sudan peace mediation efforts in Geneva. With tens of thousands of people killed and millions forcibly displaced in Sudan’s protracted civil war, can renewed talks this week in Geneva between the UN, regional and international actors to coordinate mediation efforts bring the country closer to peace?

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

Residents walk amid debris from their homes after a missile strike in Seina, Taiz, 20 October 2026. (Keystone/AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)

🇾🇪TICKING CLOCK FOR YEMEN. As Houthi rebels close in on Taiz, southwestern Yemen’s largest city, a fuel shortage and the disruption of basic services are putting three million people at risk, the UN agency for children, Unicef, told Geneva reporters yesterday.

What they said. “Access is the problem; they cannot afford to lose the basic services which are keeping them alive,” said Akhil Iyer Unicef’s Yemen representative. Escalating hostilities in the last weeks and fuel shortages have strained water, sanitation and health care in the city and its surroundings.

More than 52,000 children are suffering from malnutrition, while 10 of Taiz governorate’s 16 districts were already classified at emergency levels of food insecurity before the latest flare-up, Iyer explained.

Cut off. Fuel previously reached Taiz through the al-Turbah road from Aden in government-held territory, but Houthis captured the town by 4 October, severing the remaining supply route. (Al Jazeera)

Diesel shortages now threaten water pumping stations, leaving people without access to drinking water. This is also hindering the collection of garbage, which has been piling up in the streets and raising the risk of cholera, said Iyer. The city’s 12 hospitals also have about four days of fuel remaining, according to the World Health Organization.

Calls from Geneva. Alarmed by the deteriorating conditions, the UN’s human rights chief Volker Türk urged the Houthi authorities to “immediately allow” humanitarian relief to reach the city.

🌾HUNGER GRIPS AFGHANISTAN. Acute malnutrition has reached its highest recorded level in the poverty-stricken country, affecting one third of the population – that is, 15.9 million people – according to the UN aid agency, Ocha. The number is expected to rise to 19.2 million by April 2027 during the winter lean season.

It’s economics. But lack of food is not the problem – it’s money. Speaking from Kabul, Olga Cherevko, Ocha’s spokesperson in Afghanistan, said more investment in health and nutrition services, as well as infrastructure, was needed to help poor Afghans rebuild their lives where they are less reliant on international relief. Aid cuts have heavily crippled the relief response in Afghanistan.

Overlapping crisis. Alongside the hunger crisis, there is concern over access to services, including maternal health care, diversity and education, as “one third of these has been suspended,” Cherevko said.

— Agostina Cerisoli