♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact digest of the past week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.

More children dying of hunger in Darfur and Nuba Mountains
 
09/08/2024 – MUKJAR / DELLING. More and more children are dying of malnutrition in Darfur and the Nuba Mountains, especially in camps for the displaced. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) condemned the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for “routinely blocking requests for cross-line clearances”.
 
Adam Rujal, the spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugee Camps Coordination, reported the death of five children in just one day in Mukjar due to malnutrition. “Not only children, but also pregnant women, mothers, elderly and disabled people are dying from a lack of food,” he said. The WFP declared a famine in the large Zamzam camp for displaced in North Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of Darfuri are trying to survive. The camp “requires an urgent humanitarian response as an estimated one child is dying every two hours”.

Sudan war: New shelling reignites Khartoum state after two-month lull
 
08/08/2024 – KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN / SHENDI. Various areas of Khartoum state have witnessed clashes since the end of last week, re-igniting tension on the ground in the country’s capital after a period of relative calm that lasted for nearly two months.
 
Central Khartoum saw violent clashes between SAF and the paramilitary RSF amid intense air traffic. In southern Khartoum, the sounds of RSF anti-aircraft guns rang out on Thursday morning after the Sudanese army’s warplanes launched raids on a number of RSF sites in the Sports City, South Belt, and Soba areas. Omdurman also witnessed fresh clashes.

Famine devastates Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile
15/08/2024 – KADUGLI / ED DAMAZIN. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) issued a dire warning in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions, reporting hunger-related deaths. SPLM leader Jatego Umwaja Dalman told Radio Dabanga that “the situation has reached the stage of famine”.
 
Cameron Hudson: ‘Outside backers perpetuate Sudan stalemate’
14/08/2024 – WASHINGTON D.C. In an exclusive interview with Radio Dabanga, Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., discussed the multifaceted nuances encompassing Sudan’s ongoing conflict and the upcoming second round of Geneva talks.
 
Eastern Sudan farmers ‘optimistic’ about upcoming harvest
13/08/2024 – NEW HALFA. In Eastern Sudan, the head of the agricultural committee of the New Halfa Agricultural Project in Kassala told Radio Dabanga that crops, especially cotton, in the southern areas are growing well due to improved rainfall and international support.
 
Sudan: Omdurman hospital bombed, deadly violence in North Darfur and El Gezira
12/08/2024 – OMDURMAN / EL FASHER / EL ASEED WAD MOUSA / HASAHISA. Health organisations have condemned the bombing of El Dayat Maternity Hospital in Omdurman by the RSF as violence renews in Sudan’s Khartoum state and in North Darfur capital El Fasher. In El Gezira, the RSF has been accused of killing civilians in a series of targeted attacks on villages in the state.
 
Stakeholders meet in Addis ‘to design Sudan’s political process’
11/08/2024 – ADDIS ABABA. Civilian political forces, armed movements, and women’s and youth groups held a closed meeting with various regional and international authorities in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss the design of a political process for Sudan.
 
Eight miners dead in South Darfur shaft collapse
08/08/2024 – EL RADOOM LOCALITY. At least eight artisanal miners were killed in a mine shaft collapse at the Agbash-Khatt mine in El Radoom locality in South Darfur on Monday evening. Frantic efforts continue to rescue survivors under the ground, which has been destabilised by heavy rains.
 
More heavy rains forecast as 73k+ stricken by Sudan floods
08/08/2024 – SUDAN. More than 73,000 people have been stricken by heavy rains and resulting floods across 11 states in Sudan, with Red Sea state and West Darfur hardest hit. More than 21,000 people have been displaced, humanitarian organisations say.
 
Sudanese Armed Forces evacuate Catholic nuns and priest from Khartoum refuge
06/08/2024 14:35 KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN / PORT SUDAN. The SAF and the General Intelligence Service (GIS) launched “a specialised military operation”, which successfully evacuated five Italian nuns, a priest, and 20 South Sudanese nationals from a residence in southern Khartoum, where they had been stranded for 16 months since the outbreak of the current war in Sudan.