Thursday, September 24, 2026

📍 From the Field A Reuters correspondent on the ground in North Kordofan State (Eltayeb Siddig) documented the effects of this month's drone strikes on two frontline cities: in Umm Rawaba, a drone destroyed a crowded courtroom on September 8 and killed about ten people and wounded dozens, according to the Emergency Lawyers organisation, and in El Obeid, a drone hit a college on September 9, killing a security guard and destroying eight classrooms, according to the college dean Abdel Aziz El Sheikh, while student Omnia Abu Al-Qasim said as she stood among the rubble: "I feel our dreams have been destroyed and our future destroyed." Residents told Reuters the strikes were part of a new campaign after weeks in which the Rapid Support Forces had eased their strikes under international pressure.

And in the latest field update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) dated September 23: clashes at the Al-Borsa market in the city of Al-Daein in East Darfur on September 19 resulted in deaths and the partial closure of the market, and tribal clashes at the Abu Jah market in the town of Gereida in South Darfur on the same day resulted in 13 deaths and the displacement of more than 400 people, alongside casualties in the city of Nyala. OCHA reported that fighting in North and South Kordofan, Blue Nile and North Darfur displaced thousands more during the past week alone. In North Kordofan, UNICEF reported that two of its warehouses in Shikan locality were hit by drones on September 20 and destroyed more than 330,000 educational materials that had been prepared for distribution at the start of the school year, and humanitarian partners reported a series of drone strikes in El Obeid between September 20 and 21. And in Tawila in North Darfur, bread was not available in markets for four consecutive days after bakeries closed on September 18 following tensions over its rising prices, and the World Food Programme said the cost of the local food basket had risen 13% from last month.

1️⃣ Khartoum–Washington confrontation over legitimacy and the visa crisis The United States withheld an entry visa for the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, ahead of his scheduled address today before the UN General Assembly, and sources linked its granting to Reuters to his signing a 90-day ceasefire proposal put forward by U.S. advisor Massad Boulos. Sudan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idris Al-Harith, sent a letter dated September 21 to Secretary-General António Guterres requesting immediate intervention with Washington, while UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the Secretary-General was "deeply concerned" about the failure to issue the visa. U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on Tuesday that neither the Armed Forces nor the Rapid Support Forces, nor their leaders, "represent legitimate constitutional rule for Sudan," and the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Wednesday with strong rejection and called on Washington to engage positively with the Government of Sudan, while Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said he would deliver the address instead of Al-Burhan. (Sources: Reuters; Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; U.S. State Department) 💡 Quick reading: Linking the visa to the ceasefire proposal turned a procedural file into a full political clash over legitimacy, narrowing the window for any forthcoming American mediation.

2️⃣ Reuters investigation: Escalation of drones on North Kordofan cities A Reuters field investigation published today revealed an escalation by the Rapid Support Forces of drone attacks on government frontline cities in North Kordofan State, including the September 8 strike on a crowded courtroom in Umm Rawaba (about 10 killed and dozens wounded, according to Emergency Lawyers) and the September 9 strike on a college in El Obeid (a guard killed and 8 classrooms destroyed). The agency stated that the United Nations counted more than a thousand civilians killed by drone attacks from both sides in the first half of 2026. The Sudan Doctors Network reported that drone strikes on residential neighbourhoods in El Obeid on September 20 resulted in two killed and 20 wounded, while the army accused the Rapid Support Forces of targeting the vicinity of Al-Daman Hospital in El Obeid on Saturday evening. (Sources: Reuters; United Nations; Sudan Doctors Network; Sudanese Army) 💡 Quick reading: The return of drones to the cities after a relative lull indicates that the Kordofan front has become an open arena of attrition in which the war is being waged remotely.

3️⃣ South Sudan: Salva Kiir dismisses his deputy Benjamin Bol Mel South Sudan's President Salva Kiir dismissed on Wednesday evening his deputy Benjamin Bol Mel by presidential decrees broadcast on state television, and stripped him of the post of Vice President, the chairmanship of the economic cluster and the post of First Deputy Chairman of the SPLM, and also demoted his military rank from general to private in the National Security Service. The decrees included the dismissal of the central bank governor and the head of the revenue authority and associates of Bol Mel, without naming a successor and without giving reasons. Bol Mel (52 years old) had been appointed Vice President last February and was rumoured to be Kiir's favoured successor, and he has been subject to U.S. sanctions since 2017, and a UN report accused him of companies affiliated with him receiving $1.7 billion for road projects that were not completed. The dismissal came hours after Bol Mel's office denied reports of him being placed under house arrest. (Sources: Reuters; SSBC; Eastleigh Voice) 💡 Quick reading: The sudden purge ahead of the December 22 elections reveals an internal struggle over succession and increases the ambiguity of the political scene in Juba.

— Editorial Team