Thursday, October 15, 2026
📍 From the Field The United Nations said in its update on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warning that the share of children needing treatment for severe acute malnutrition in Nyala doubled between January and August from 5% to 11%, and that 64% of cultivated land in North Darfur shows weak plant growth after a drought covering more than half the country and late-September rains arriving too late to save most grain crops.
OCHA reported, citing the statement of Resident Coordinator Denise Brown on October 10, that a drone strike near a displacement site in Wad Al-Mahi, Blue Nile State, killed at least 31 civilians, most of them women and children, with dozens wounded, and that the displaced at the site had fled fighting in Geissan and Kurmuk. OCHA also said Greater Kordofan has seen the displacement of more than 300,000 people since October 2025, that its markets have been subjected to more than 170 incidents of shelling, looting or clashes this year, and that two trucks contracted by the World Food Programme came under fire on October 2 and 3, killing at least one person.
In Khartoum, the state's Supreme Emergency Committee said in a meeting chaired by Governor Ahmed Osman that fuel queues had continued for two weeks because supply was less than actual need, and approved measures to organize distribution to stations and supply bakeries with gas, along with building a new gas depot. In Karari locality, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre distributed 960 shelter kits at Al-Fath 1 Centre to displaced and returning families, benefiting 8,014 individuals, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
1️⃣ The army announces control of more than 30 positions in Kordofan and advances in West Darfur The Armed Forces announced control of more than 30 positions during operations in Kordofan, with operations continuing in Umm Sumayma and Abu Haraz and targeting Rapid Support Forces concentrations in North Kordofan. In West Darfur, the recapture of the Bir Kulkul / Bir Saliba area from the RSF was announced, according to what the Governor of West Darfur, Bahr al-Din Adam Karama, relayed. The operations come in the context of the army's drive to cut RSF supply lines between Kordofan and Darfur. (Sources: Armed Forces statements circulated in today's Sudanese newspaper headlines, Radio Tamazuj, Anadolu Agency, Al Jazeera) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — Kordofan has become the decisive corridor linking central and western Sudan, and any sustained advance there changes the calculations of supply and negotiation alike, not only the map of control.
2️⃣ Arrangements for a Sudanese dialogue inside the country and parallel international moves The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said on Tuesday that there are arrangements to launch a comprehensive political dialogue inside Sudan, stressing that Khartoum will not accept the outcomes of dialogue conferences held abroad. In parallel, the French envoy Jean-Marie Safa discussed developments in the political process with the committee preparing the Sudanese dialogue, while the Sumud alliance led by Abdalla Hamdok continued its moves with the Quintet mechanism on ending the war. Sudan, in today's headlines, expressed its readiness for dialogue with Ethiopia according to defined controls and conditions. (Sources: Sovereignty Council Media, today's published Sudanese newspaper headlines, Sudan Tribune) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — The multiplicity of dialogue tracks without a single agreed reference remains the most prominent risk to the political process, and settling the dialogue's venue and its Sudanese ownership is the first test.
3️⃣ South Sudan and Uganda sign a memorandum to facilitate trade, and Juba prepares for December elections South Sudan and Uganda signed on Wednesday, October 14, in Kampala a memorandum of understanding to remove non-tariff barriers and simplify procedures on the Kampala–Gulu–Nimule–Juba corridor, with joint technical committees, implementation roadmaps and periodic reviews. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called for improving the Juba–Nimule road, electricity interconnection, security cooperation and a one-stop border post, noting the growth of Ugandan exports to South Sudan to about $700 million a year. In Juba, the National Elections Commission announced the opening of nominations for 13 election-officer positions in the states and administrative areas in preparation for the December 22, 2026 elections. (Sources: The Second Uganda–South Sudan Business Forum in Kampala, Office of the Ugandan President, National Elections Commission of South Sudan) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — The trade memorandum's value will be measured by what the trader feels on the road, not by the signing ceremony, and the December elections make the efficiency of corridors and borders as much a political file as an economic one.
— Editorial Team
