• Geneva: The sixth consultative meeting to coordinate peace initiatives in Sudan continued yesterday, Wednesday, with the participation of about twenty countries, without the attendance of the Sudanese government or the Rapid Support Forces because it is a meeting to coordinate mediators, and the deliberations focused on ways to achieve a ceasefire and a Sudanese-led transitional political phase through inclusive dialogue (Source: UN News) • In Geneva, Swiss Minister of State Alexandre Fasel warned that the war in Sudan has become "a drone war that kills civilians for the most part", and that famine-like conditions continue in Darfur and Kordofan, noting that about 34 million people need humanitarian assistance according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and that 8 million children are out of school according to UNICEF (Source: UN News) • Abyei: The United Nations strongly condemned a series of drone attacks on the Amiet market in the Abyei area disputed between Sudan and South Sudan, while casualty figures conflicted; Reuters quoted Abyei's acting Minister of Information as saying 73 people were killed and 19 injured, while later reports spoke of more than 150 killed, and Médecins Sans Frontières said it is treating more than 20 wounded at Ameth Bek Hospital (Source: Reuters, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the United Nations) • Save the Children said at least 18 children were among hundreds of people killed in a wave of drone and air attacks across Sudan during the past week, including three children in Khartoum on Monday and five children from a single family in North Kordofan (Source: Save the Children via ReliefWeb, 21 October) • Officially: The President of the Sovereignty Council, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, continues his tour of Northern State, where he praised the sacrifices of the citizens of Wadi Halfa and Northern State and their support for the army, and visited Dar al-Sada al-Adarisa in the Bayouda area and the al-Barqiq area amid a popular reception (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • Prime Minister Kamil Idris headed to the Republic of Zimbabwe to participate in the 25th summit of Heads of State and Government of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • Sudan renewed in New York its categorical rejection of accusations by the delegation of the United States and other delegations that it used chemical weapons; Minister Plenipotentiary Faisal Abdel Azim Salem said Washington refused to send a technical delegation to conduct a joint investigation or to present the evidence to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, renewing Sudan's commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • The Minister of Foreign Affairs called for a unified African mechanism to confront rebel militias and terrorist groups, and invited COMESA ministers to visit Khartoum, while Deputy President of the Sovereignty Council Malik Agar discussed with the ambassadors of Egypt and China enhancing cooperation, investment and cultural relations, and met the Zimbabwean delegation participating in the Port Sudan Forum for Security and Development (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • The Port Sudan International Forum for Security and Development concluded its work and issued its recommendations, and UNESCO proposed $1.5 billion to rebuild Sudan's scientific sector, and the Minister of Education discussed with the organisation support for the education, culture and media sectors (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • The Governor of the Darfur Region, Minni Arko Minawi, said on the first anniversary of the fall of El Fasher that there is no tolerance for impunity (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • Services: The SABA organisation restarted the dialysis centre in Geneina after a three-year stoppage, and the Gezira Scheme aims to plant 400,000 feddans with wheat to confront rising bread prices (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)) • The Transitional Sovereignty Council mourned Mrs Fatima al-Zahra al-Balla Hamza, wife of former President Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Suwar al-Dahab, who died yesterday, Wednesday, in the Qatari capital, Doha (Source: Transitional Sovereignty Council Media)

— Editorial Team