Monday, October 19, 2026

📍 From the Field At Hajar Sanakit in the Bir Saliba administrative unit of Sirba locality in West Darfur, near the border strip with Chad, displaced people are still counting the victims of Saturday's attack on their gathering. The Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Darfur Regional Government, Babiker Hamdin, said in a statement carried by the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the victims had been displaced during the past year from the villages of Narouma, Karmaliya and Qaqramba after their villages were burned and their property looted, only to face in Sanakit humanitarian conditions he described as extremely harsh. In broader field coverage, "Radio Dabanga" reported several deaths in West Darfur, including six women and five injuries, while the radio quoted the Kordofan Observatory as saying that an army drone strike on a civilian truck in West Kordofan killed four people and injured others, and that the truck was carrying patients and travellers attending to their needs.

On hunger and displacement, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated in its alert issued on October 12 that two surveys in two camps for the displaced in eastern Jebel Marra in South Darfur recorded acute malnutrition among children at rates of 38% and 30.8%, above the famine threshold, and 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 about 64% of cultivated land in North Darfur showed weak crop growth due to drought linked to the El Niño phenomenon. According to the displacement and return snapshot issued by the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) on October 18, the number of internally displaced people in Sudan reached 8,585,611 people distributed across the 18 states, compared with 5,273,334 returnees, and about 56% of the displaced are children under eighteen.

In Rumbek, capital of Lakes State in South Sudan, a commander in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said that peacekeepers had intensified their patrols around the clock after the clashes of October 8 and 9, and secured Rumbek Government Hospital, the airport and the headquarters of the World Food Programme, and evacuated 17 humanitarian workers who had been trapped north of the city. "Access Radio" quoted one resident as saying that the shooting was heavy and drove families to hide under beds and flee with their children, while state authorities said the clashes temporarily displaced about 500 families and left 78 injured, before shops reopened their doors and daily movement resumed cautiously.

1️⃣ 11 displaced people killed in an attack on a gathering at Hajar Sanakit in West Darfur Sudanese authorities announced on Sunday the killing of 11 people and the injury of five others, most of them women and children, in an attack attributed to the Rapid Support Forces on a gathering of displaced people in the Hajar Sanakit area of Sirba locality in West Darfur State. The official Sudan News Agency quoted the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Darfur Regional Government, Babiker Hamdin, condemning what he described as the "bloody massacre" that took place on Saturday, considering the targeting of displaced people's gatherings a grave violation of the rules of international humanitarian law. No immediate comment was issued by the Rapid Support Forces on the accusations directed against them. (Sources: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via a statement by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Darfur Regional Government; Sudan Tribune; Saqr Al-Jidian) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the attack strikes people who had already been displaced from their villages, which makes the protection of displacement sites close to the border and accountability for the perpetrators of attacks on civilians an urgent matter that cannot be delayed.

2️⃣ Al-Burhan denies any intention to hold a dialogue that includes the "Tasis" alliance The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, denied today, Monday, the accuracy of reports circulating about an intention to hold a political dialogue that includes the "Tasis" alliance. Al-Burhan said, in a special statement carried by Sudanese media, that there is no truth to what was circulated about a dialogue with the alliance, putting an end to speculation raised by media reports about arrangements for a political process with his participation. The denial comes one day after his decision to strike the criminal charges linked to political opinions against Sudanese residing abroad who wish to enter the country to participate in the Sudanese–Sudanese dialogue, while granting them temporary procedural immunity. (Sources: Sudan Platform; Sudan Today; Media of the Transitional Sovereignty Council) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the denial draws a clear line between a Sudanese–Sudanese dialogue open to holders of political opinions abroad, and any negotiating track with "Tasis", but it leaves the form of the dialogue, its timetable and its final parties without clarification.

3️⃣ Washington keeps Temporary Protected Status for Sudanese in America after its expiry date The US Department of Homeland Security said today, Monday, that migrants from Sudan and Ukraine can retain Temporary Protected Status in the United States for the time being, on the same day on which the protection had been scheduled to end. A spokesman for the department said that announcements relating to status holders from the two countries would be made "in due course" and that their protection would remain in place. Temporary Protected Status allows those inside the United States to stay and work legally when their countries are affected by armed conflict or exceptional circumstances, and about 6,800 Sudanese benefit from it, according to estimates carried by Reuters. (Sources: Reuters) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the decision gives Sudanese in America a temporary breathing space, not a permanent solution, as it kept the protection in place without announcing an official extension for a specified period, leaving residency and work situations hanging on a later announcement.

— Editorial Team