Wednesday, September 23, 2026

📍 From the Field In East Darfur, OCHA reported in its field update issued on September 23 that clashes broke out on September 19 inside the Al-Borsa market in the city of Al-Daein, leading to casualties and the partial closure of the market, and on the same day armed tribal clashes at the Abuja market in the town of Gereida in South Darfur resulted in the killing of 13 people and the displacement of more than 400 others, with other casualties recorded in Nyala. OCHA stated that fighting in North and South Kordofan, Blue Nile and North Darfur pushed thousands more into displacement during the past week alone.

In North Kordofan, UNICEF reported that two drones targeted two of its warehouses in Shikan locality on September 20, destroying more than 330,000 educational materials that had been prepared for distribution at the start of the school year, while a series of drone attacks was recorded in El Obeid between September 20 and 21. And in Tawila in North Darfur, bread disappeared from markets for four consecutive days and bakeries closed their doors on September 18 amid tension over rising prices, while the World Food Programme said the cost of the local food basket had risen 13% compared to last month.

And in Mukjar locality in Central Darfur State, a joint field assessment published on September 23 showed that 93% of the households covered by the assessment suffer acute food shortages, and 78% of them reported severe food shortages or days without food, while 88% rely on open defecation and 95% have no health services or only partial services.

1️⃣ Washington links Al-Burhan's visa to signing a 90-day truce Reuters revealed in an exclusive report dated September 22 that the United States is holding the entry visa of the army commander and President of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, days before his scheduled address before the UN General Assembly on Thursday, and that granting the visa appears conditional on his signing a 90-day humanitarian truce proposed by the U.S. envoy for Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos. According to Reuters, Sudan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idris Al-Harith, sent a letter dated September 21 to Secretary-General António Guterres requesting his "immediate intervention" to ensure the visa is issued, considering that preventing the head of a member state from participating in person touches on the organisation's obligations, while UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres was "deeply concerned" about the failure to issue the visa. (Sources: Reuters, Letter from Sudan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Office of the UN Secretary-General) 💡 Quick reading (analysis): Washington is using the UN platform card as a rarely used political pressure card, revealing that the truce battle has moved from the field to open diplomacy — and the outcome may determine the atmosphere of the General Assembly itself.

2️⃣ U.S. State Department: Both parties to the war and their leaders do not represent legitimate rule The U.S. State Department announced in a statement dated September 22, through spokesman Tommy Pigott, that "neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the Rapid Support Forces, nor any of the leaders of either party, represent legitimate constitutional rule for Sudan," affirming President Donald Trump's commitment to ending the war. The statement said the two parties had shown no serious commitment to an immediate humanitarian truce, but had instead escalated combat operations and drone attacks that kill civilians, and Washington repeated its demand to accept a humanitarian truce "without preconditions" and to engage in a comprehensive political dialogue leading to a civilian government. The administration also warned that it would seek to "raise the cost of continuing the conflict" on the combatants and the networks that feed it. (Sources: U.S. State Department, Pigott) 💡 Quick reading (analysis): The harshest American language since the start of the war — stripping legitimacy from both parties together and threatening to raise the cost — suggests that Washington is moving towards a new package of pressures, not merely seasonal statements.

3️⃣ Government pledges to cut inflation to below 60% by the end of 2026.. and protests in Gedaref Finance Minister Gabriel Ibrahim pledged to cut the inflation rate to below 60% by the end of 2026, saying in a meeting with the United Nations Development Programme on Monday, broadcast on state television, that the indicators "suggest that this is achievable." The minister explained that inflation reached 99% in 2025 after a peak of 176% in 2024, while the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound exceeded 8,000 to the dollar this month — about 13 times its price before the war (around 600 pounds). The pledge came at a time when rare protests broke out in Gedaref State this week against rising prices, while citizens told Agence France-Presse how commodity prices "change daily according to the dollar rate" and that families "live on little and do without some necessities." (Sources: Sudanese state television — Finance Minister's address, Agence France-Presse) 💡 Quick reading (analysis): The economic pledge coincides with rare popular protest in a relatively safe state, a sign that the government's battle is now on two fronts: the military field and daily livelihood — and the second may be the more dangerous for stability.

— Editorial Team