Monday, November 9, 2026

📍 From the Field Field sources who spoke to Darfur24 from Al-Khawi locality in West Kordofan State reported that violent clashes erupted on Sunday morning in the Al-Shumaila area east of Eyal Bakhit, and the sound of explosions was heard for more than three hours, while the army advanced southwards towards the village of Abu Muneigir and the fighting extended southwest of Eyal Bakhit towards the outskirts of the villages of Wad Khalil and Umm Sharwa. Darfur24 quoted eyewitnesses as saying that drone strikes targeted gatherings of the Rapid Support Forces on the outskirts of the villages of Al-Qafil and Ghazal, and led to the destruction of a number of four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, in an update relayed by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, that about 120,000 men, women and children were displaced in Blue Nile State between January and mid-October, and that about two thousand people fled the villages of Kanu and Baro in North Darfur within one week in search of safety. The spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, said that civilians are now moving from one displacement to another as the fighting extends to new areas including Blue Nile, while UNICEF delivered malaria treatment supplies to 765 health facilities, enough to support about 800,000 people in Darfur and West Kordofan, according to what OCHA reported.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, told UN News that drone attacks on civilian infrastructure disrupt electricity, water and fuel and obstruct the delivery of aid, noting that power was cut while a World Health Organization team was at a hospital outside Khartoum, halting treatment for 25 patients who need dialysis, and that hundreds of relief trucks are stuck due to a shortage of fuel, while World Food Programme convoys have been subjected to seven strikes this year alone. The Displacement Tracking Matrix of the International Organization for Migration reported the displacement of an additional 2,510 people from villages around Umm Baro locality in North Darfur due to the deterioration of security; most of them headed to other areas within the locality, while other groups crossed the border towards Chad.

1️⃣ The International Criminal Court reminds Khartoum: the arrest warrant for Ahmed Haroun is still in force The International Criminal Court said today, Monday, in a brief response sent to the media from its headquarters in The Hague, that it recalls the existence of an outstanding arrest warrant against Ahmed Haroun on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, a day after officials in the National Congress Party and lawyers on his defence team announced that the army had re-detained him on Sunday. The arrest warrant was issued in April 2007 and includes 42 charges, among them 20 crimes against humanity and 22 war crimes including murder, rape, persecution, forcible transfer and torture in Darfur between 2003 and 2004, and Haroun denies the charges and describes them as political. The Court explained that Haroun's case is still at the pre-trial stage because it does not try people in absentia and needs him to be detained and transferred to The Hague, while the accounts of his lawyers and his party's officials differed over the place of his detention between Kassala, Omdurman and Khartoum, and they said his current whereabouts are unknown and no official reasons for the detention have been announced; the National Congress Party rejected the arrest and demanded his immediate release, and there was no immediate comment from the army. (Sources: International Criminal Court via EFE Agency, Reuters, Associated Press) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — The Hague's reminder turns the detention from an internal measure into a declared test of Khartoum's commitment to international justice, and keeps Haroun's fate suspended between surrender and a national trial unless a clear official position is issued.

2️⃣ Abyei: the head of the Oversight Authority accuses armed groups of targeting Al-Naam market and warns of strife between Sudan and South Sudan The Sudanese-side co-chair of the Abyei Area Oversight Authority, Al-Khair Abdullah Idris Abu Mureidat, accused armed groups present at Al-Naam market, north of Abyei, of being behind the drone attack that recently targeted the market and led to it burning, considering that the incident aims to stir strife and inflame tension between Sudan and South Sudan. Abu Mureidat said, during his meeting with the Director of the East Africa Division of the United Nations Department of Peace Operations and the Deputy Head of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), that the mission is required to carry out its responsibilities under its mandate to protect civilians and preserve stability, stressing that addressing the Abyei file must be done by resorting to the legal references and the agreements governing its status, foremost among them the 2011 agreement. This comes after Khartoum denied the army's responsibility for the attack while Juba accused the Armed Forces of carrying it out, and while Khartoum hosts, from November 8 to 10, the second meeting of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism between the two countries for the first time since talks resumed last August. (Sources: Statements of the head of the Abyei Oversight Authority, UN News on the Security Council briefing of November 5, Sudan News Agency – SUNA) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — The Al-Naam market attack places the final Abyei file, postponed since 2011, before two parallel tracks: a UN investigation into the strikes and fragile Khartoum talks, and any new mutual accusation could blow up both together.

3️⃣ Kordofan: the army advances around Eyal Bakhit and the fighting extends to new villages on the Al-Khawi axis Fighting continued today, Monday, around the Eyal Bakhit area in Al-Khawi locality in West Kordofan State, a day after the army announced control of it, as Darfur24 reported the outbreak of violent clashes on Sunday morning in Al-Shumaila east of Eyal Bakhit, the army's advance southwards towards Abu Muneigir, and the extension of the confrontations to the outskirts of Wad Khalil and Umm Sharwa. The General Command of the Armed Forces announced, in a press circular issued by the official spokesman on Sunday, November 8, that its air defences shot down a hostile drone of the "FH-95" type east of Wad Banda in West Kordofan, the fourth drone it announced shooting down in the state within a week, while the Joint Force of the armed movements allied with the army said its operations against the Rapid Support Forces continued for the third consecutive day on the North Kordofan axes. Al-Khawi is a strategic link between central Sudan and West Kordofan, and the battles in the three Kordofan states have been escalating since late last October. (Sources: Darfur24, Circular of the official spokesman of the Armed Forces, Anadolu Agency) 💡 Quick reading: Analysis — The movement of the fighting from Eyal Bakhit to the villages surrounding it indicates that the announced control has not yet settled the axis, and that the battle of Al-Khawi will be decided by each side's ability to hold its positions, not by announcements of advance alone.

— Editorial Team