Saturday, October 31, 2026

📍 From the Field In Shendi, in River Nile State, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that drones attacked the city at dawn on Friday, and the sound of explosions was heard, followed by an immediate power cut across the entire city and thick smoke rising from its transformer station, while the Shendi Locality Security Committee said in its statement that the attack destroyed the station's transformers and put it completely out of service, and hit a fuel depot and a warehouse belonging to the armed forces and injured one member of the army. In North Darfur and West Kordofan, the "Sudan News" website reported field information about clashes in Mazbad, Arori and Kamo and a statement by the Rapid Support Forces dated Friday, October 30, announcing control of the three areas, along with deaths and injuries in an attack on the Thursday Market north of Al-Khoi, without independent confirmation of the results of the battles or an official comment from the army so far. On the extended humanitarian reality, UN Women said in a Geneva briefing on October 23, based on a survey that included 50 women's organizations supporting those displaced from El Fasher, that 49 organizations observed signs of severe psychological distress among displaced women and girls a year after the fall of the city, and that 84% of the families included in the International Organization for Migration's 2026 assessment said their women avoid markets for fear for their safety, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that about 100,000 people fled El Fasher to neighbouring Chad since its fall a year ago.

1️⃣ Al-Burhan and Putin in Moscow: A free zone on the Red Sea, mining offers and a civilian transition The President of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on the sidelines of the Third Russia-Africa Summit, the development of bilateral relations, and Al-Burhan offered the establishment of a free economic zone on the Red Sea coast that Russia could use for fuel and wheat warehouses, in addition to Sudan's readiness to grant sites for extracting gold, copper and other minerals and to develop the railway line from Port Sudan. Putin said Sudan is an important partner for Russia in the Arab world and Africa, and that trade exchange more than doubled last year, calling for an end to hostilities and reaching a political settlement, while today's newspaper headlines carried Al-Burhan's affirmation of the direction towards a civilian transition and free elections after the end of the war. (Sources: Sudan News Agency (SUNA); Al-Mashhad Al-Sudani; Al Jazeera Net via today's reports) 💡 Quick reading: This is analysis, not news: Moscow receives wide economic offers while it links any serious investment to improved security, so the test remains in signed, implementable agreements, not in summit headlines.

2️⃣ The drone war on electricity: Shendi is the third station to go out of service in five days The Sudanese authorities announced on Friday that the Shendi transformer station in River Nile State had gone completely out of service following a drone attack it attributed to the Rapid Support Forces, making it the third station to go out of service in five days. According to Anadolu Agency tracking based on official data, 10 electricity stations in scattered areas have been subjected to attacks since Monday, preceded by attacks on Umm Dabakir in White Nile, Kadugli in South Kordofan and Al-Manaqil in Gezira, and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and the Sudan Electricity Company accused the Rapid Support Forces of targeting five transformer stations in Sennar, Gedaref and Gezira at the start of the week. (Sources: Statement of the Shendi Locality Security Committee; Anadolu Agency; Al Jazeera; Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Sudan Electricity Company) 💡 Quick reading: This is analysis, not news: The shift of targeting to the national electricity grid turns the outage from a local fault into daily living and health pressure, from dialysis sessions to the storage of food and medicine.

3️⃣ Hemedti dissolves the civilian administrations and founding councils in five states The commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo "Hemedti", issued on Friday, October 30, what was described as Decree No. 19 of 2026, by which he repealed the Civilian Administrations Document issued in 2024 and dissolved the civilian administrations and founding councils in South Darfur, Central Darfur, East Darfur, West Darfur and West Kordofan, along with dissolving the subordinate structures affiliated with them and relieving their heads and officials. The decree, which was published by the Rapid Support Forces' channel on Telegram, stipulated conducting business temporarily through the existing competent authorities until the completion of decentralized and local governance legislation, and prohibited the establishment of alternative administrations or making permanent appointments in them. (Sources: Text of the decree published on the Rapid Support Forces' Telegram channel; Sudanese reports today) 💡 Quick reading: This is analysis, not news: Dissolving structures established two years ago in areas of control rearranges the administration there all at once, and its practical effect on services and people will appear in who actually manages the markets and facilities during the coming weeks.

— Editorial Team