• Nyala — a new statement today, Sunday: the Minister of Information and official spokesman of the Darfur Regional Government, Ahmed Ishaq Shanab, told the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the recent airstrikes which the army announced it carried out on Friday on command centres and positions of the Rapid Support Forces in Nyala were "painful" and inflicted heavy losses on them in lives and equipment, stressing that the Rapid Support Forces "are not safe" in Nyala or elsewhere and that the army will continue pursuing them all the way to Um Dafuq, and that new areas are continuously coming under the army's control without specifying them; the toll of losses could not be independently verified, while the Rapid Support Forces had accused the army on Friday of bombing the livestock market in Nyala with a drone and of civilian deaths, without confirmation of whether these were the same strikes announced by the army (Source: SUNA via Shanab's statement published today, October 18; statement of the General Command of the Armed Forces, Friday, October 16) • Eastern Sudan — a drone attack this morning: today's reports said that the ground defences of the Armed Forces confronted an attack by drones targeting the city of Gedaref, Khashm el-Girba and the Setit Dam, with reports that the drones came from the direction of Ethiopian territory and that a drone was shot down in the vicinity of the Upper Atbara and Setit dams; details of the attack or whether there were losses could not be independently verified (Source: Atheer News and 'Sudan Now', October 18) • Berlin — Minawi's conditions for peace: the Governor of the Darfur Region, Minni Arko Minawi, called during a briefing in Berlin before representatives of research centres, humanitarian organisations and media professionals, including the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Berghof Foundation and Der Spiegel magazine, for linking any ceasefire to the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from cities and villages, their disarmament, the removal of foreign fighters and guaranteeing the return of the displaced and refugees, warning that a truce that does not include this will not lead to sustainable peace and could be exploited for rearmament, and affirming the government's openness to initiatives that respect Sudan's sovereignty and unity (Source: 'Sudan Now', October 18) • Khartoum — the school year begins today: the Wali of Khartoum, Ahmed Osman Hamza, rang today the bell marking the start of the new school year at Sheikh Yusuf al-Daqir Government Model Secondary School for Boys in Karari locality, in the presence of the state's Minister of Education and National Education, Abdellatif Shakir Abdellatif, and education leaders, and classes began at all levels in the state on the date to which it had been postponed, October 18 (Source: Atheer News and 'Sudan Platform', October 18) • Human rights — Sudan invites the African Commission to visit the country: the head of Sudan's delegation before the 89th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held in Senegal, Ambassador Abdelghani al-Naeem, invited the Commission to visit Sudan to see the violations which he said civilians were subjected to by the Rapid Support Forces and to assess the conditions of the displaced and refugees, renewing Sudan's commitment to cooperation with African and international mechanisms and to African solutions to African problems (Source: Atheer News, October 18) • Northern State — Al-Burqaiq market fire: a huge fire broke out on Saturday evening in the market of Al-Burqaiq locality, destroying a number of shops and leaving material losses, and Civil Defence forces, with the participation of citizens, worked to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading; no official information has yet been issued determining the cause of the fire or the final toll of losses (Source: Nabd Sudan and Atheer News, October 18) • Al-Kadro — the army's clarification still stands with no new details on damage: the Armed Forces had clarified that explosions on Saturday afternoon occurred inside one of the ammunition depots belonging to the Ordnance Corps in the Al-Kadro area north of Khartoum Bahri, followed by limited explosions resulting from friction of the ammunition, and confirmed that the situation was contained and the area secured without stating in its statement the extent of damage or injuries; today's reports quoted residents as reporting damage to some nearby homes without independently determining their number (Source: Armed Forces statement, October 17; Sudan Tribune via reports of October 18) • South Sudan — a joint move with Uganda to fund the Juba–Nimule road: Kampala and Juba are preparing to submit a joint funding request to the African Development Bank to rehabilitate the Juba–Nimule road (192 kilometres), as part of a plan that includes a 400-kilovolt high-voltage electricity transmission line and strengthening security coordination on the border, driven by the rise in Ugandan exports to South Sudan to $700 million compared with $523 million in 2025, according to what was published today (Source: 'Al-Mada News' – follow-ups, October 18)
— Editorial Team