July 26, 2024 (SUKI) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized six villages southeast of Sennar city, activists said on Friday, amid reports of widespread abuses against civilians and mass displacement. The RSF announced on Thursday it had taken control of the Al-Suki area, tightening its grip on the city of Sennar, the capital of Sennar state. “The RSF are spreading in the villages southeast of Sennar like cancer, engaging in their favoured hobby of violations, looting, and abuse of unarmed citizens,” said the Sennar Youth Gathering in a statement. The group listed the villages of Al-Trirat Al-Kufa, Ibrahim Janqoh, Ku’ Al-Nahl, Trira Madani, Al-Khalij, and Qaladima as being overrun by the RSF, with looting forcing residents to flee. The RSF seized most of Sennar state in late June, including the strategic Jabal Moya area and the state capital Singa. This allowed the paramilitary group to advance on...

As diplomacy ramps up, so too must humanitarian innovation. News that the Biden administration is spearheading a fresh initiative to end the conflict in Sudan is a rare positive development in a story that just keeps getting worse. The war in Sudan is as senseless as it is destructive. The same armed actors that preempted a complete civilian overthrow of the dictatorial government in 2019–the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)–eventually turned on each other in 2023, robbing the country of the promise of the revolution, committing horrific atrocities, and destroying the very country they claim to wish to lead. An approach that elevates the issue and provides a focal point for the multitude of external actors with stakes in Sudan and the many processes that have led to endless forum shopping is most welcome. At the same time, success is far from guaranteed, given that...

July 25, 2024 (NEW YORK) – The number of children killed, injured or facing other grave violations in Sudan increased to a record high in 2023 as a devastating conflict paralyzed the country, the United Nations Secretary General said in a report calling for urgent global action to tackle the escalating crisis. The report, submitted to Security Council on the situation of children and armed conflict in the Sudan covers the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. It mainly documents the effects of conflict on children in the Sudan, highlighting trends and patterns of grave violations such as recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, abduction of children and the denial of humanitarian access. According to the UN report, at least 1,721...

Nearly 26 million people in war-torn Sudan are not getting enough to eat, the UN reported on Tuesday, citing its humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. “To give you an example, that is equivalent to the entire population of Australia,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists attending his daily briefing in New York. He said OCHA “continues to be extremely alarmed by the worsening food situation in the country” and the 26 million figure includes 750,000 people who are “just one step away from famine”. Situation set to worsen In Sudan, rising food prices, access challenges, and the impact of conflict are compounding people’s limited access to food. Last month, the price of local food increased by 16 per cent when compared to May and is 120 per cent higher than in June 2023. “People’s hardship is only set to worsen as the rainy season takes hold,” said Mr. Dujarric. He explained...

July 25, 2024 (SUKI) – Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Thursday it had seized the town of Suki in Sennar state, about 40 km (25 miles) east of the state capital, while the army did not immediately comment. The paramilitary RSF said in a statement late on Wednesday that its forces had taken full control of Suki and inflicted heavy losses on the army, capturing dozens of soldiers. The Sennar Youth Gathering, a coalition of civilian resistance committees, confirmed the RSF had taken control of Suki. Field sources aligned with the army said their forces had withdrawn to the outskirts of Suki and were working to regain control. Local sources told Sudan Tribune that battles were also fought on Thursday in the Qaladima area, north of Suki and southeast of Sennar city. The Sudanese army has not yet officially commented on the RSF’s claims. The capture of Suki...

The talks in Switzerland, supported by the United States, seek a nationwide cease-fire in Sudan. The Sudanese Armed Forces, which opposes the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, has not yet commented on the matter. The leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, welcomed on Tuesday US-backed cease-fire talks in Switzerland, penned in for next month. “I appreciate the efforts exerted by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland in organizing these crucial talks,” Dagalo wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The discussions, which aim to stop the violence in Sudan, are slated for August 14. “We are ready to engage in these talks constructively and look forward to them being a significant step towards peace, stability, and the establishment of a new Sudanese state based on justice, equality and federal governance,” Dagalo added. Sudan crisis leaves tens of thousands dead as...

July 24, 2024 (JUBA) – Devastating floods could hit South Sudan in the coming three months, thus worsening food insecurity and limiting access to safe water and proper sanitation facilities for the population, a medical charity has warned. Medicines San Frontiers (MSF), in a statement issued on Wednesday, said up to 5.4 million people are expected to live in flood-affected areas of South Sudan.  It also projects a likelihood of increased rainfall between July and October. These factors could cause flooding on a scale unprecedented in the last century. This year’s predictions are particularly concerning for those in internally displaced people’s camps or transit centers where people live in overcrowded conditions. “The predicted increase in rainfall in 2024 is very concerning given the number of people at risk in flood-prone areas; threats to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and the risk of water- and vector-borne disease transmission,” said Joe Aumuller,...

Weapons from China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates and Yemen identified Existing arms embargo on Darfur completely ineffective “This is a humanitarian crisis that cannot be ignored” – Deprose Muchena The conflict in Sudan is being fuelled by a constant flow of weapons into the country, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing. The briefing, New Weapons Fuelling the Sudan Conflict, documents how recently manufactured foreign weapons have been transferred into and around Sudan, often in flagrant breach of the existing Darfur arms embargo. Amnesty International found that recently manufactured or recently transferred weapons and ammunition from countries including China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, and then in some cases diverted into Darfur. To date, more than 16,650 people have been killed since the escalation in conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the...

July 24, 2024 (NAIROBI) – A rights group has called for an arms embargo on Sudan, amid concerns that the war in the country is being fuelled by constant flow of weapons from United Arab Emirates, Russia, Turkey, Serbia, Yemen and China. Amnesty International, in a report entitled, New Weapons Fueling Sudan Conflict, shows how recently manufactured foreign weapons have been transferred into and around Sudan, in breach of the arms embargo on Darfur. Since it broke out in mid-April last year, the conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, with an estimated nearly 10 million people now displaced.   According to Amnesty International, recently manufactured or recently transferred weapons and ammunition from countries including China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen are being imported in large quantities into war-torn Sudan, and then in some cases diverted into Darfur. “Our research shows that weapons...

London — The ongoing war in Sudan is being fuelled by a constant flow of weapons into the country, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing. The report identified weapons produced by China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, being used by the warring parties in Sudan. The briefing, ‘New Weapons Fuelling the Sudan Conflict’, finds that recently manufactured weapons and ammunition from countries including China, Russia, Serbia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen, are being imported in large quantities into Sudan, “often in flagrant breach of the existing Darfur arms embargo. “Our research shows that weapons entering the country have been placed into the hands of combatants who are accused of international humanitarian and human rights law violations”, said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s senior director for regional human rights impact. “We have methodically tracked a range of lethal weapons – including handguns, shotguns...