Monday, October 26, 2026

📍 From the Field In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, Amnesty International reported in new testimonies it collected during August and September 2026 from 25 civilians, including 19 residents and six humanitarian workers, that fewer than 70,000 people remained in the city compared with more than one million people before the war, and that schools had been turned into detention centres. Hadiya, a mother in her thirties who fled to Tawila in August, said her three children were diagnosed with malnutrition after they left and one of them was transferred to hospital, while Alawiya, a 54-year-old woman who spent months detained in a school, said between four and five people were dying every day, most of them because of a lack of food, according to what Amnesty International documented.

On the other side of the border, Reuters documented in a field investigation from Iridimi camp in eastern Chad the story of Ahmed Yahya, aged 32, who fled North Darfur when he was nine years old in 2003 and is today raising his two children in the same camp. Reuters said aid agencies distribute water once or twice a week and that food is scarce, with some families living on grains alone, and that around 974,000 people had fled to Chad since the outbreak of the latest war, raising the total number of Sudanese refugees there to 1.4 million people.

In El Fasher itself, a resident who returned last June told Amnesty International: "The El Fasher I know no longer exists; it has become a completely destroyed city", adding that everyone is subject to close monitoring. The organisation also documented men and women being subjected to forced labour, such as collecting bodies and rubble and cooking and cleaning without pay, and warned that North Darfur, including El Fasher, reaching the famine stage has become highly likely over the coming months, according to official Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessments.

1️⃣ Britain imposes sanctions on 15 commanders from both sides of the conflict in Sudan Britain today, Monday, imposed sanctions on 15 military commanders, leaders of armed groups and security officials from both sides of the conflict in Sudan. London accused those targeted of committing acts of sexual violence and torture and launching attacks on civilians. The list included commanders from the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces and leaders of armed groups allied with the army, and Britain said the step comes as part of its latest efforts to hold perpetrators of violations accountable. (Sources: Reuters) 💡 Quick reading: Expanding sanctions to include both sides together raises the cost of internationally documented violations, but its practical impact remains linked to its enforcement and to its turning into coordinated pressure to stop attacks on civilians.

2️⃣ Drone attacks cut electricity from four states in south-east Sudan Sudan Electricity Holding Company Ltd said drone attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces targeted today, Monday, generation stations in the south-east of the country, leading to power outages in Sennar, Gedaref, White Nile and Gezira states. The company said the attacks hit stations in Sinja, Hawata, Fao, Mashkour and Geneid and caused severe damage to equipment and threatened the stability of the national grid, while the Rapid Support Forces did not respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to independently verify the account. The United Nations warned that attacks on energy infrastructure threaten health and other services for millions of those affected. (Sources: Reuters, Sudan Electricity Holding Company) 💡 Quick reading: The shift of targeting to the electricity grid moves the war directly to hospitals, water stations and bakeries, and makes protecting civilian infrastructure a condition for any serious talk about alleviating suffering.

3️⃣ Sudan demands UNISFA investigate the Naam Market attack in Abyei, and Juba protests The head of the Abyei Oversight Committee on the Sudan side, Al-Khair Abu Muraidat, on Saturday called on the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, "UNISFA", for an urgent and transparent investigation into a drone attack that targeted on October 19 Naam Market, also known as Amit Market, and resulted, according to the United Nations, in the killing of 80 people and the injury of 19 others. The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday denied any connection of the army to the attack, while South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the army of carrying it out and summoned Sudan's ambassador to Juba, Essam Karrar, to convey its strong protest, and it was not possible to independently verify the party responsible. (Sources: United Nations via coverage of the attack, Statements by the Abyei Oversight Committee and the Foreign Ministries of Sudan and South Sudan) 💡 Quick reading: The Abyei file tests the ability of Khartoum and Juba to contain a bloody incident through international investigation and diplomatic channels instead of its turning into a new escalation on the border.

— Editorial Team