• Blue Nile: The Fourth Infantry Division announced that it had regained control of the Bakouri and Aklili areas, and army spokesman Colonel Asim Awad said air defences shot down on Thursday morning a hostile strategic drone that crossed the border from the direction of Ethiopia near Bakouri, and Aklili lies on the Kurmuk – Damazin road and Bakouri includes the headquarters of the 13th Infantry Brigade in Geissan, 70 kilometres southeast of Damazin (Source: Statement of the Fourth Infantry Division and the army spokesman's statement via Anadolu Agency) • Darfur and Kordofan: The army continued a wide drone air campaign against Rapid Support Forces positions in El Fasher, Abu Jabra and Babnousa, after similar strikes on Nyala and El Daein on Wednesday, and witnesses in El Fasher said the strikes hit the Guest Palace, the Grand Market, the ministries complex and the Al-Daraja neighbourhood and caused damage to citizens' property in the market and to the Sultan Ali Dinar Mosque (Source: Sudan Tribune via eyewitnesses and a military source) • Abyei: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today denied any link between the armed forces and the drone attack on Al-Naam market – the Amiet market – and described it as resembling the militia's crimes, expressing regret over the fall of civilian victims, while local Abyei authorities announced the toll had risen to 153 killed, and the United Nations said it had documented the killing of at least 80 people and the injury of 27 others and had not yet determined the party responsible (Source: Statement of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations) • Abyei politically: The President of the Sovereignty Council, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, issued a decision forming a national team to negotiate over Abyei with South Sudan, headed by Abdullah Yahya Ahmed, with Foreign Minister Mohi El-Din Salem as deputy and Peace Commission Chairman Dr Suleiman al-Dabailo and others as members, and its tasks are coordination with the African Union and the United Nations, managing bilateral and multilateral negotiations and building a database on the issue (Source: Transitional Sovereignty Council decision) • COMESA: Prime Minister Professor Kamil Idris addressed the 25th COMESA summit in Harare, affirming Sudan's urgent need for the support of its brothers in the building and recovery phase, reviewing the Government of Sudan's peace initiative presented to the Security Council in 2025, and calling for support for national dialogue, while Zimbabwe took over the chairmanship of the organisation from Kenya (Source: SUNA via summit reports) • Peace efforts: The sixth consultative meeting to coordinate peace initiatives in Geneva, with the participation of 22 countries and the African Union, the European Union, IGAD and the League of Arab States, stressed a firm commitment to ending the war in a united Sudan, and US presidential adviser Massad Boulos said a humanitarian truce is a precondition for any inclusive political dialogue that includes civilians and refugees (Source: UN News) • Humanitarian: The United Nations renewed its condemnation of the killing of civilians after a raid in Al-Tina in North Darfur on Tuesday killed five civilians, including two from emergency response rooms, with other victims falling in West and South Kordofan, and warned that rising fuel prices due to hostilities will raise the prices of basic commodities, and that a lack of funding is hindering the expansion of aid in Darfur and Kordofan over the next six months (Source: UN News – spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, 22 October) • Famine risk: A new report warns that drought linked to the El Niño phenomenon is exacerbating the risk of famine, as July – September rainfall recorded the lowest level in more than three decades nationwide, the lowest in North Darfur since 1984, in North Kordofan since 1990 and in Gedaref since 1991, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification observatory said in an alert on 12 October that famine risk is increasing in conflict areas, while the World Food Programme expected an additional 350,000 people to join severe hunger by the end of 2026 (Source: Reuters, 23 October, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification and the World Food Programme) • El Fasher a year after its fall: Amnesty International said today that civilians are still being subjected to detention, torture, unlawful killing and limited access to aid a year after the Rapid Support Forces took control of the city, and that fewer than 70,000 people remained in it compared with more than one million before the war, based on testimonies from 25 civilians and humanitarian workers (Source: Amnesty International, 23 October) • Health investigation: A BBC investigation documented at least 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities in El Fasher between May 2024 and October 2025 and the killing of 55 health workers, the injury of 120 and the abduction or disappearance of 10 others, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the findings are deeply alarming and may amount to war crimes, while the Rapid Support Forces rejected the investigation and described it as propaganda (Source: BBC and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)

— Editorial Team