The lead
On 30 October the UN Security Council failed to adopt either draft resolution on MINURSO in Western Sahara: the US draft failed with 11 in favour and a Russian veto, and the Russian counter-draft was rejected too. In a statement dated 1 November, the Secretary-General's spokesperson said MINURSO "ceases its operations following the non-renewal of its mandate by the Security Council", with a liquidation period starting that day.
The second post
The FCDO added one sentence to its general travel advice guidance on 30 October: "Advice against travel applies regardless of the length of stay in location, including transit through airports." It has not said why.
Ukraine
This updates our report of 30 October, which said the UN had not attributed the Dnipro strike. At the 30 October noon briefing the Spokesman said: "The Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack we saw on Dnipro by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukraine."
United States
The FCDO says that from 3 November 2026 anyone flying to or transiting through the US must complete and sign a form before boarding their flight, and that the form asks you to confirm whether you have been in the DRC in the 21 days before your flight. The FCDO page says: "You may not be allowed to board if you do not complete the form." This is the Ebola pre-boarding requirement; 3 November is a Tuesday. The FCDO page also notes temporary US entry restrictions for some people recently in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan. We have not read the US government page for the form, so its name and where to get it are not covered here.
Yemen
UN News reports that "Mohammad el Shami, a staff member of the UN human rights office in Yemen, had been arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities since 6 June 2024." His family say he died more than a month ago and were told only recently. The High Commissioner, Volker Türk, said: "Mohammad’s family has not received any explanation of the cause or circumstances of his death", and, UN News says, called on the Houthis to disclose all relevant medical and detention records, preserve evidence and allow independent scrutiny of any stated cause of death. This rests on UN News's account; we could not read the UN human rights office's own statement.
Lebanon
The UN noon briefing of 30 October, citing humanitarian colleagues on the ground, said that as of Wednesday 28 October "more than 300,000 men, women and children remained internally displaced in the country", displaced since 2 March, while nearly 970,000 people have returned to their communities in the south. It said demolitions, fires and strikes by the Israel Defense Forces were reported this week, both within the so-called combat zone declared by Israel and beyond it. It gave no casualty figures.
Somalia
The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) was due to wrap up its work on Saturday 31 October, according to UN News, with Somali institutions taking on full responsibility for the country's recovery and some 25 UN entities still working in the country.
UK security dogs
The Home Office updated its list of accredited explosives detection dog teams on 30 October. We count 105 teams in the November list, against 102 in the October list we reported on 19 October. The Home Office does not say which teams were added or removed.
