• Security Council: Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said in a briefing on Thursday, October 16 that the two parties to the war still prefer fighting despite calls for a truce, and that drone attacks have become the main cause of civilian deaths this year, calling for greater pressure on the two parties and on those who arm and finance them. Sudan maintained that any humanitarian truce must be linked to the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from civilian facilities and citizens' homes to assembly points under international monitoring, the departure of foreign mercenaries and a halt to the flow of weapons. (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via Al-Muhaqqiq; United Nations via PANA agency and UN News) • Geneva mediation: The United Nations announced that the Sudan Consultative Group will meet in Geneva next week with the participation of the Quad, the Quintet and other mediators to align peace initiatives, while the United Nations supports the Quad's efforts to reach a humanitarian truce, and Egypt told the Council that Cairo hosts and assists more than 1.5 million Sudanese and offered to help coordinate regional mediation. (Source: UN News via Channel Africa) • Berlin: The Governor of the Darfur Region and personal envoy of the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Minni Arko Minawi, delivered on Friday, October 16 at the headquarters of the German Foreign Ministry a written letter from Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressing the strengthening of relations and support for peace and Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue. German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Serap Güler affirmed her country's support for Sudan's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. (Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) via Al-Muhaqqiq and the platform of the Official Spokesperson of the Government of Sudan) • London in the Security Council: The United Kingdom's Deputy Permanent Representative, Kate Foster, called on the two parties to the war to protect civilians, allow aid access and choose diplomacy, warning of the growing risk of famine in Darfur and Kordofan a year after the fall of El Fasher. UN News summarised the situation as 20 million people facing acute hunger, including 200,000 at catastrophic levels, and more than 700,000 displaced people in Tawila suffering shortages of food, water and health care. (Source: Statement of the United Kingdom in the Security Council; UN News, October 16, 2026) • Bangkok: Minister of Finance Dr. Gabriel Ibrahim warned, during a meeting of Arab finance ministers with the President of the World Bank Group on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held from October 12 to 18, of the fragility of food security in Sudan, calling for urgent international attention commensurate with the scale of the challenges and the repercussions of supply chain disruptions on transport costs and agricultural production inputs. (Source: Al-Muhaqqiq) • Diaspora in America — countdown for temporary protection: About 1,900 Sudanese beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States are approaching the expiry of the designation on October 19 without the Department of Homeland Security having published a decision to extend or terminate it, while the law provides for an automatic six-month extension until April 19, 2027 in the absence of a decision by the deadline, an extension the Department has not yet confirmed, leaving work permits in a state of practical uncertainty. (Source: Focal News, October 16, 2026; Immigration Analytics) • Cultural presence in Doha: Sudanese novelist Muhannad Rajab al-Dabi won the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel in its twelfth edition for 2026 for his novel "Hisar al-Ghazala Waw" in the category of published Arabic novels, with a prize value of $30,000 and translation of the winning work into English, in an edition that recorded 2,610 entries. (Source: Katara Cultural Village Foundation — Katara Prize for Arabic Novel website) • Reverse crossing from the South: The UN Refugee Agency said that 324,631 people entered Sudan from South Sudan between April 2025 and October 2026, including 101,031 South Sudanese and 223,600 Sudanese returnees, and White Nile State received 52% of the arrivals, while Sudan hosts about 910,000 refugees including about 689,000 South Sudanese, amid a warning of shortages of sanitation and drinking water and the risk of cholera. (Source: UN Refugee Agency UNHCR via Sudan Tribune and The Sudan Times) • South file — trade and finance: South Sudan joined as a full member of the Maritime Organisation for Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa (MOESNA) to enhance regional trade and shipping, and in Bangkok a Juba delegation led by Acting Minister of Finance Athian Ding Athian and the Governor of the Central Bank discussed with the International Monetary Fund economic reforms and preparations for the December elections. (Source: Radio Community on MOESNA; Radio Yei on the IMF meeting) • South file — protection of civilians: The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) deployed a quick reaction force to protect civilians and vital facilities in Rumbek after communal fighting on October 8 and 9 that state authorities said left 60 dead and 78 wounded and about 500 families temporarily displaced, and the mission evacuated 17 aid workers who were trapped in Amok Payam. (Source: UNMISS mission via African News Page)
— Editorial Team
