• South Sudan: President Salva Kiir signed yesterday evening, Monday, amendments to the National Elections Act of 2012, removing the link between holding elections and completing the permanent constitution and the population census — which effectively paves the way for the December 22, 2026 elections, the first since independence in 2011. The opposition alliance in South Sudan (signatory to the 2018 peace agreement) rejected the amendments, saying they were passed without sufficient consultation among the parties to the agreement, while Riek Machar remains under house arrest since March 2025 and faces trial on charges he denies. The president remains in office with his full constitutional powers throughout the electoral period until an elected president takes over, while the vice presidents leave their posts during the three months prior to polling day. (Source: Reuters — Tuesday, September 22, 2026)

• North Kordofan: the Sudanese army and the joint forces continue their offensive west of El Obeid; military sources say the forces took control of about 11 areas (Kajmar, Sharshar, Al-Baniya Al-Karineya, Al-Qulay'at, Awlad Hazima, Maqladat, Rishan, Al-Qa'a, Lagad Forest, Al-Kikiti, the outskirts of Al-Mazrub) and fighting is concentrated around Sodari, Umm Badr and Hamrat al-Sheikh, and military spokesman Asim Awad Abdel Wahab speaks of "heavy losses" in the ranks of the Rapid Support Forces and the pursuit of its remnants towards the Darfur borders; the Rapid Support Forces has not responded to these claims and not all locations have been independently verified. (Source: Sudan Tribune — via democrata.es, Sunday, September 21)

• Five citizens, including a goldsmith, were killed in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces on a mining market in North Kordofan yesterday, Monday, according to local sources, following reports of a convoy coming from Darfur raiding a traditional mining mine in Umm Badr, beating workers and looting equipment and money. (Source: Sudan Tribune — via newsasfacts website, September 21)

• World Food Programme: more than 19.5 million people in Sudan face acute hunger, and the Programme needs $579 million to continue its operations until October 2026; the Programme currently reaches more than four million people monthly, including residents of Darfur and Kordofan, but lack of funding forces it to reduce assistance in favour of the hungriest. (Source: World Food Programme — September 21)

• World Health Organization: the full operation of the intensive care unit at Sennar Teaching Hospital has been restored after technical and logistical support through the Health Emergency Response Project, making it capable of accommodating critical cases instead of referring them to other hospitals at a time when every minute decided the patient's survival. (Source: World Health Organization — via ReliefWeb, September 21/22)

— Editorial Team