Thursday, October 22, 2026

📍 From the Field UNICEF said in a statement issued from Khartoum on 20 October that at least 12 children were killed in two separate incidents in the past days: nine children aged between five and ten years in an attack on a camp for displaced families east of Sanakit in West Kordofan state on 17 October, and three children aged between two and six years with their father in a drone strike on a residential area in Khartoum on 19 October. UNICEF's acting representative in Sudan, Angela Kearney, said that the children in West Kordofan were killed in a camp to which their families had resorted in search of safety, and that the Khartoum children were killed in their neighbourhood in a city to which many families had returned to try to build their lives anew, adding that fleeing and returning alike no longer protect families.

On the ground in Kordofan, displacement is expanding around El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan. Save the Children said that more than 5,500 children were displaced during the past two weeks in and around El Obeid as drone strikes escalated and fuel and water shortages grew, and that humanitarian access to the city is narrowing as main roads are disrupted or closed. The International Organization for Migration said in a statement on the escalation of the Kordofan crisis that El Obeid hosts about 500,000 people, including more than 83,000 displaced people, and that fighting, insecurity and the risk of drones keep hundreds of thousands outside the reach of life-saving aid. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, as presented in Geneva meetings this week, that about 34 million people in Sudan need humanitarian support, while UNICEF said that eight million children are out of school.

1️⃣ Sixth Geneva consultative meeting affirms the unity of Sudan and calls for a halt to escalation and to supplying the war with drones and mercenaries The sixth consultative meeting to enhance coordination of peace initiatives in Sudan concluded in Geneva, hosted by the Office of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Pekka Haavisto, in partnership with Switzerland, on 21 October. The co-chairs' summary reaffirmed Sudan's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and the rejection of parallel governments, and called for an immediate de-escalation and the protection of civilians, and for states and non-state actors to stop fuelling the war with mercenaries and military equipment, especially drones, and funding. The summary welcomed the efforts of the Quad — the United States, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Egypt — towards a humanitarian truce, and supported an inclusive, Sudanese-led political process that includes women and youth. The list of participants included 22 countries and five organisations, including the African Union, the European Union, IGAD, the League of Arab States and the United Nations, without the attendance of the Sudanese government or the Rapid Support Forces, as the meeting is a mechanism for coordinating mediators. Haavisto said that the United Nations is studying two confidence-building steps: an exchange of prisoners of war and detainees, civilians and military personnel, and arrangements that allow students to sit exams wherever they reside, describing them as small steps in the face of the scale of destruction. (Sources: UN News, United Nations media service 'UNifeed', and the co-chairs' summary of the meeting as reported by diplomatic reports on the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the Geneva meeting did not produce a ceasefire, and its practical value lies in unifying the mediators around a single ceiling: no parallel government and no external supply to the war, and its next test is to turn this consensus into a humanitarian truce that can be implemented on the ground.

2️⃣ Drone strikes on Rapid Support Forces sites in Nyala and El Daein on Wednesday evening amid a mutual escalation in the drone war RT Arabic reported that the Sudanese army on Wednesday evening directed drone strikes at Rapid Support Forces sites in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and El Daein, the capital of East Darfur, targeting weapons and supply stores and command and control centres. The report said that the Nyala raids hit sites in the north and west of the city and the Cinema and Al-Nahda neighbourhoods, where powerful explosions were heard, flames rose and ambulances were seen in the streets, while the El Daein raids targeted sites near the railway line north of the city and combat vehicles were destroyed. The report quoted a military source in the Rapid Support Forces as saying that the strikes destroyed weapons stores and a command centre and caused killed and wounded, including foreign technicians, with no independently confirmed toll so far. The strikes come amid an escalating use of drones between the two sides, as the army intensifies its strikes on Rapid Support Forces logistical centres in Darfur, while the latter carries out attacks on Khartoum and cities in northern and central Sudan. (Sources: RT Arabic, citing military sources and eyewitnesses in Nyala and El Daein) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the move of intensive air strikes to the capitals of South and East Darfur together expands the drone war to the Rapid Support Forces' administrative centres, but the absence of any independent toll makes the real military effect of the strikes undecided until cross-checked field accounts become available.

3️⃣ Sudan renews in New York its rejection of accusations of using chemical weapons and demands verification of the evidence Minister Plenipotentiary Faisal Abdel Azim Salem renewed, in an intervention on behalf of Sudan at international meetings in New York on 21 October reported by the Sudan News Agency, Sudan's categorical rejection of allegations by the United States delegation and a number of other delegations regarding the use of chemical weapons. Salem said that the United States refused to send a technical delegation to conduct a joint investigation or to present the evidence, if any, to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, considering that the refusal to cooperate stems from Washington's desire to exert political pressure on the Sudanese government. He renewed Sudan's full commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention, pointing to its membership of the organisation's Executive Council as an affirmation of that commitment, and concluded that these allegations remain mere accusations until they are proven, calling on countries not to circulate them before verifying their correctness. (Sources: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via 'Sudan Now' and 'Al-Ahd Online') 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — by moving the dispute to the arena of technical verification at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Sudan publicly places the burden of proof on Washington, and the file will remain a diplomatic pressure card unless it turns into an actual international investigation whose results both sides accept.

— Editorial Team