Sunday, October 18, 2026

📍 From the Field In Omdurman market, a field tour conducted by "Darfur24" on Saturday documented sharp jumps in food prices: a sack of sugar reached 400,000 pounds compared with 330,000 last week, and a jerrycan of groundnut oil exceeded 570,000 pounds compared with about 400,000, and an ardeb of onions reached 820,000 pounds, and wheat flour weighing 25 kilograms reached 160,000 pounds, and a sack of white rice reached 245,000 pounds, while a sack of coffee exceeded two million pounds. Traders in the market linked the high prices to the halt in the flow of goods and commercial trucks between Egypt and Sudan and the decline of the pound, while "Radio Dabanga" reported from residents in Gezira State that a sack of sorghum rose to about 530,000 pounds and two loaves of bread were sold for a thousand pounds due to fuel scarcity and high shipping costs.

In Nyala in South Darfur, Médecins Sans Frontières said its teams at Nyala Teaching Hospital, which it supports, are treating eight injured people, after at least four people, including a child, were killed in shelling that targeted the city's livestock market on one of the market's busiest days. In the broader humanitarian context, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated in its alert issued on October 12 that the share of children admitted for treatment for severe acute malnutrition in Nyala doubled from about 5% to 11% between January and August, and that two camps for the displaced in South Darfur recorded malnutrition rates above famine thresholds.

In Al-Kadro, north of Khartoum Bahri, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that they heard the sound of strong explosions in the military area on Saturday afternoon and saw thick columns of smoke, while residents reported, according to "Sudan Tribune", damage to some homes near the site of the ammunition warehouse explosion, which the Armed Forces announced it had contained and secured its area.

1️⃣ Al-Burhan strikes the political charges against Sudanese abroad participating in the Sudanese–Sudanese dialogue The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, issued today, Sunday, a decision striking the criminal charges filed by state apparatus against Sudanese residing abroad who enter the country to participate in the Sudanese–Sudanese dialogue, whenever those charges are linked to their political opinions and positions. The decision stipulated dropping the charges covered by it and granting participants temporary procedural immunity from the date of their entry into the country until after the end of the dialogue for a sufficient period to be determined by the Sovereignty Council, and prohibiting the taking of criminal measures because of opinions linked to the dialogue, with directing the judicial, police and security authorities to take what is necessary to implement it. (Sources: Sudan Platform; Nabd Sudan) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the decision removes a declared legal obstacle to the participation of exiled opponents in the dialogue, but its practical value will depend on its actual implementation at the entry points and in state apparatus and on clearly defining the duration of the immunity.

2️⃣ Nyala: SUNA reports the Darfur government saying the army's strikes are "painful" for the RSF, and the toll of the market shelling is still conflicting The Minister of Information of the Darfur Regional Government and its official spokesman, Ahmed Ishaq Shanab, stated today, Sunday, to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the recent strikes carried out by the army in Nyala were "painful" for the Rapid Support Forces and inflicted heavy losses on them in lives and equipment, affirming that the Rapid Support Forces "are not safe" in Nyala or any other area and that the army will continue pursuing them up to Um Dafuq. The army had announced on Friday that it carried out strikes on command centres and concentrations of the Rapid Support Forces in the city, which is its administrative and military centre, while the Rapid Support Forces accused it in return of shelling a livestock market with a drone and killing 30 civilians, including 17 women and five children, and the "Emergency Lawyers" group said a market in Nyala was hit on Friday by an army drone, while Médecins Sans Frontières documented the killing of at least four people; it was not possible to independently verify whether the announced strikes were the same ones that hit the market, nor the overall toll. (Sources: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via a statement by the Minister of Information of the Darfur Regional Government; Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse; Médecins Sans Frontières; Emergency Lawyers) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the continuation of the strikes on Nyala, with conflicting tolls, makes the protection of markets and civilians the real test of any military narrative, in the absence of an independent investigation that settles what happened in the market.

3️⃣ Khartoum markets record record rises in commodity prices and the pound falls to about 9,000 to the dollar The markets of the capital, Khartoum, witnessed on Saturday a wave of accelerated rises in the prices of food commodities and basic consumer goods, with repeated increases recorded during the hours of a single day and a state of confusion in buying and selling activity, according to reports published today by Sudanese platforms based on the "Darfur24" field tour of Omdurman market. Traders attributed the rises to the halt in the movement of goods and commercial trucks between Egypt and Sudan following an Egyptian decision to stop the movement after Egyptian drivers were killed and a third was injured in Khartoum, in addition to the decline in the value of the Sudanese pound against the dollar to about 9,000 pounds. Citizens expressed their inability to keep up with the continuing high prices amid declining purchasing power, demanding that the authorities intervene urgently to stabilise the markets. (Sources: Darfur24 via its field tour of Omdurman market; Khartoum Sport; Sudan Platform) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — this time the price crisis is linked to a halted external supply artery and a declining currency together, which means that any calm in the markets depends on the return of truck movement and the stability of the exchange rate, not on local measures alone.

— Editorial Team