14-20 September Sudan News Summary: El Fasher drone strike, epidemics spreading, diplomatic push

23 Sept

Arabic news roundup

By William Greenwood

Khartoum Bahri, the third largest city in Khartoum State, has witnessed a widespread outbreak of fevers amid a shortage of medical supplies.
Authorities are working to restore medical services in Khartoum, after most of its health facilities were extensively destroyed during the Rapid Support Forces' control of the state, before the army recaptured it last March.
A member of the Bahri Emergency Room said that they had recorded 4,875 cases of epidemic diseases in August.
A number of Khartoum Bahri residents complained of widespread fevers amid a lack of medicines and intravenous solutions and a shortage of medical personnel in health centres.

Victims in El Fasher are buried without shrouds amid a suffocating and ongoing siege.

Death has become a daily occurrence, reflecting an unprecedented humanitarian collapse in El Fasher, and while bodies pile up in the streets and under the rubble, residents continue to bury their loved ones with whatever is available: worn out rags, torn clothes, or plastic bags.
Sheikh Hassan Badawi, the muezzin of El Fasher's Old Mosque, reported that during the clashes, they are forced to bury at least 50 dead at a time, most of them in mass graves, due to the ongoing shelling and lack of burial supplies.
According to local estimates, the death toll in El Fasher since the outbreak of the attacks has exceeded 10,000 people, most of them civilians.
Health officials indicate that approximately 70% of these dead were buried without shrouds due to the complete lack of burial supplies.

The Secondary Education Department of the Ministry of Education in Gezira State issued a decision to suspend classes in all secondary schools in the state for 15 days, starting Sunday until Saturday, October 4, due to the outbreak of dengue fever and malaria.
The decision came after students had spent more than two months in school, which began last July.
Gezira has witnessed a significant spread of dengue fever, malaria, and other diseases, amid a severe shortage of essential medicines, medical supplies, intravenous solutions, and health workers.

By Samuel Hunt

A drone strike by the RSF hit a mosque in a camp for displaced people in Darfur (El-Fasher area), killing 75 people, according to aid group reports.
The strike came amid intensified war efforts by the RSF to take control of Darfur’s main city, El-Fasher.
The report notes continued trends of summary executions, indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence, and use of drones even in regions previously less affected.
U.N. human rights officials call for urgent action to protect civilians and ramp up delivery of humanitarian aid.
Sky's Yousra Elbagir visits displacement camps in North Darfur, a region which has been virtually impenetrable to journalists.

Washington, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo issued a joint call for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, urging the warring parties to halt hostilities.
The proposal emphasises a civilian-led transitional government, restoration of democratic institutions, and respect for Sudan’s sovereignty.
The joint effort comes amid intensifying fighting, humanitarian collapse, and fears of wider regional destabilisation if the war continues unchecked.

Between January and June 2025, at least 3,384 civilians were killed, mostly in Darfur, due to ethnically-driven violence.
The number of civilian casualties in those six months is nearly 80% of the total for all of 2024.
Many killings came from artillery shelling, air and drone strikes, summary executions, particularly after SAF recaptured Khartoum and in camps for displaced people like Zamzam and Abu Shouk.
UN warns that the rising ethnicisation of violence poses threats to stability and social cohesion, urging protection of civilians and humanitarian access.

Bill Greenwood