Thursday, October 29, 2026

📍 From the Field In Nyala, in South Darfur State, the Nyala Teaching Hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières is still receiving the consequences of last Monday's strike on Tangonj Market in the Domaya neighbourhood. The organisation said the hospital received the bodies of 36 people, 21 of whom were wearing civilian clothes, and that its teams treated more than 150 injured people in the emergency department. The organisation's project coordinator in Nyala, Del Koninks, described the arrival of the injured on donkey-drawn carts and tuk-tuk vehicles, suffering shrapnel wounds, severe burns and facial injuries, and said the crews worked around the clock amid shock that swept the hospital. Agence France-Presse quoted Hamdan Suleiman, a resident of the Domaya neighbourhood, as saying he lost his 19-year-old son in the market strike and buried him with more than 70 others in one place, and food seller in the market Zahra Humaidan as saying the seller who sits beside her was killed along with three girls who work with her.

In Tawila locality, in North Darfur State, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its statement issued on Monday, 26 October, one year after the fall of El Fasher, that about 900,000 displaced people are present in the locality, and that overcrowding and shortages of food, clean water, sanitation, shelter and health care are imposing enormous pressure on already exhausted services. The office said the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan, amounting to about $2.9 billion, has been funded at only slightly more than 46 percent, as only $1.33 billion has arrived. In another UN update on Tuesday, 27 October, UN spokesperson Daniela Gross de Almeida warned that drone strikes on power stations threaten the stability of the national grid, and that the World Food Programme warned that about 900,000 people will be deprived of food assistance starting next month due to the funding shortfall, while the Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, launched a national vaccination campaign against polio targeting the protection of 11 million children.

1️⃣ Al-Burhan in Moscow heading Sudan's delegation to the third Russia-Africa Summit The President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, arrived today, Thursday, in the Russian capital, Moscow, heading Sudan's delegation participating in the work of the third Russia-Africa Summit, and he is scheduled to address the work of the summit, which discusses strengthening cooperation and partnership between Russia and African countries and discussing regional and international issues of common interest. The delegation includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Director General of the General Intelligence Service, the Director General of the Defence Industries System and the Director of the Office of the President of the Sovereignty Council, and Sudan Television and the "Russia Today" channel signed a partnership and cooperation memorandum in Moscow. In a related context, Al-Burhan sent a telegram of condolence to the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, on the death of Major General Joseph Lagu, the former First Vice President of President Jaafar Nimeiri, who died in Juba on Tuesday at the age of about ninety, while President Salva Kiir announced mourning and the lowering of flags until the deceased is laid to rest. (Sources: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via Transitional Sovereignty Council Media; Presidency of the Republic of South Sudan; Fana Agency) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the presence of Khartoum and Juba together in Moscow and their participation in the same summit makes the file of the relationship between the two countries present on the margins of the summit, even without an official announcement of a bilateral meeting so far.

2️⃣ Conflicting toll from a drone strike on a market in Nyala and demands for an independent investigation Médecins Sans Frontières reported that a drone belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces struck, on Monday evening, 26 October, at about eight o'clock, a crowded market west of Nyala, then a second strike hit a residential neighbourhood in the city, and that the teaching hospital it supports received 36 bodies and treated more than 150 injured people. The "Emergency Lawyers" group said its preliminary toll reached 102 civilians killed and 113 injured, described the attack as a massacre and demanded an independent and transparent investigation and accountability for those responsible. The Ministry of Health in the "Ta'sis" government announced today, Thursday, a much higher toll of 188 killed and 356 injured, based on reports from health institutions and field medical teams, while noting that this toll could not be independently verified, and no statement has been issued by the army leadership so far clarifying the nature of the targeted objective. (Sources: Médecins Sans Frontières; Emergency Lawyers via Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press; Ministry of Health in the 'Ta'sis' government via media reports) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — the large gap between the three tolls summarises the documentation crisis in areas of active fighting, and makes an independent investigation the only way to establish the facts, not an exchange of numbers.

3️⃣ Khartoum accuses drones launched from Ethiopia of targeting electricity and civilian installations and insists on its right to respond The Sudanese government said, in a joint press conference of the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Culture and Information and the General Intelligence Service, organised by the Sudan News Agency (SUNA), that it possesses evidence from data of drones shot down by the defences and satellite images indicating that drones were launched from inside Ethiopian territory, including the vicinity of Bahir Dar Airport, to target power stations and civilian objects in Khartoum, Gezira, Sennar, Gedaref and White Nile, the most recent of which was the Al-Manaqil power station on Wednesday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement that the attacks targeted airports, power and water stations, hospitals, fuel depots and oil transport lines, condemned them and described them as war crimes and crimes against humanity, called on the Security Council and the African Peace and Security Council to assume their responsibilities, and affirmed Sudan's adherence to its right to self-defence in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. The government presentation did not include an Ethiopian response to the accusations, and the drone launch sites could not be independently verified, while the OCHA office expressed its concern at the continued strikes on civilian infrastructure and their disruption of essential services for millions of Sudanese. (Sources: Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; government conference via the Sudan News Agency (SUNA); Al Jazeera – Sudan; United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — moving the accusation to an official multi-ministry conference with announced evidence raises the file from an exchange of statements to an open diplomatic and legal track, and places the protection of the electricity grid at the heart of the battle over the return of citizens and the stability of services.

— Editorial Team