Sudan: Briefing and Consultations 30th Oct 2025

From Security Council Report 

What's In Blue 

Dated Wednesday 29 Oct 2025 - excerpt:

Sudan: Briefing and Consultations

Tomorrow morning (30 October), the Security Council is expected to hold an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on Sudan. 

It appears that the meeting had been previously scheduled for early November, in keeping with resolution 2715 of 1 December 2023, which called for the Council to be briefed every 120 days on “UN efforts to support Sudan on its path towards peace and stability”. 

However, the UK (the penholder on the file), Denmark, and the “A3 Plus” members (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) requested that the date of the meeting be moved forward because of the dire situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. 

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher and Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of5 Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee are expected to brief in the open chamber. 

Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra is expected to brief members via videoconference (VTC) in the closed consultations, while Fletcher may participate in the closed session as well.

A draft press statement proposed by the UK and the A3 Plus members, which expresses Council members’ concern about the violence in and around El Fasher, is under silence procedure until tomorrow morning.

Earlier this month, fighting escalated in El Fasher as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched an assault on the 6th Infantry Division headquarters of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), reportedly capturing it on 26 October and forcing SAF and allied troops to retreat to the western neighbourhoods of the city. 

The RSF subsequently seized large parts of El Fasher, effectively ending an 18-month-long siege and taking control of the SAF’s last stronghold in the Darfur region.

The civilian population has borne the brunt of the siege, with hospitals, schools, religious sites, and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) targeted indiscriminately and starvation reported in the city. 

In a 27 October press release, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) described reports of summary executions of civilians attempting to flee El Fasher, with indications of ethnic motivations for killings. It further cited reports of the killing of persons no longer participating in hostilities, including unarmed men accused of being SAF fighters. 

In a 24 October statement after a visit to Sudan, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said that 130,000 children in El Fasher are “trapped, cut off from food, water, and healthcare”, adding that women and children who have been able to flee the siege have faced harassment and attacks. 

Chaiban also described conditions in other parts of the country—where children continue to face malnutrition, violence, and exposure to diseases such as cholera—stressing that “Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis”.

Tomorrow, the briefers and Council members are expected to underscore the gravity of the crisis in Sudan, echoing concerns expressed in recent days by the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), and other key international actors. 

The briefers and Council members are likely to condemn the effects of the fighting in El Fasher on the civilian population, including reports of summary executions. 

They are also expected to urge the parties to allow the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into El Fasher, as well as other parts of Sudan affected by the conflict, and call on them to adhere to their responsibilities under international law, including with respect to the protection of civilians.

Concerns may also be raised tomorrow about the 21 October threat by RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to target planes or drones from neighbouring countries that the RSF believes are supporting the SAF. 

While Dagalo did not specify which states he was referencing, the RSF and its supporters have accused several countries in the region of backing the SAF. 

This statement was made on the same day that the RSF reportedly launched drone attacks in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, including on areas near the international airport, just a day before domestic flights were scheduled to resume for the first time since the outbreak of fighting in April 2023. These attacks reportedly continued over the following days.

Full story: 

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/10/sudan-briefing-and-consultations-12.php

Update:

WATCH a UN recording of the full meeting here:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166222
- at the bottom of the screen slide bar to 17:50 for start of meeting;
- click on settings wheel & audio to select preferred language & speed.

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Sudan's military expels top UN food aid officials as conflict escalates. The WFP said directors of its Sudan operation were declared "personae non grata" and told to go within 72 hours, without explanation

INTERNATIONAL bodies such as the European Union and African Union have expressed alarm, while locals say the current situation is reminiscent of the region's darkest days. 

Darfur experienced one of the world's gravest humanitarian disasters from 2003 to 2020. The Janjaweed, a militia who were accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing during this time, morphed into what is now the RSF.

Read more in this report from BBC News

By Wedaeli Chibelushi

Published Wednesday 29 October 2025 - excerpt:

Sudan's military expels top UN food aid officials as conflict escalates

IMAGE SOURCE, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Image caption,

The World Food Programme says it is engaging with Sudanese authorities to resolve the matter

Sudan's military government has ordered two senior officials at the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to leave the country amid widespread famine sparked by a gruelling civil war that erupted in April 2023.

The WFP said directors of its Sudan operation were declared "personae non grata" and told to go within 72 hours, without explanation.

The decision comes days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), captured the key city of el-Fasher in Darfur from the military after an 18-month siege, which included a food blockade.

The WFP said the expulsions came a "pivotal time" as humanitarian needs in Sudan had "never been greater with more than 24 million people facing acute food insecurity".

Although the military government has not given a reason for the expulsions, it has previously accused aid groups of breaking local laws and releasing misleading reports on famine conditions.

The government said the expulsion will not affect the country's cooperation with the WFP, state news agency Suna reported.

The WFP says it is engaging with Sudanese authorities to resolve the matter.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yp2v4n1d5o

More about Sudan's war from the BBC:

A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan

A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone

Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign

El-Fasher siege: My son's whole body is full of shrapnel

Sudan's fertile region where food is rotting amid famine and war

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Sudanese people must pressure the African Union to do its job and not wait for the international community currently addressing 59 active conflicts

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Africa is a large rich continent comprising 54 countries. This is more than any other continent.

Sudan is an African country. Sudanese people are African. After more than twenty years since its inception during which time it has attracted billions of dollars of funding, aid and support, the African Union (aka AU) has failed Darfur, El Fasher and countless cities across Sudan and South Sudan.

In my view, after 22 years at Sudan Watch, the only way Sudanese people can help their people survive, save their homeland, natural riches and the creation of jobs, is to pressure the African Union into doing its job, demand a high standard of service, not settling for anything less than the best.

Leaders of the African Union need to be put under pressure to take immediate action or step aside for better qualified people to help and support Africans in Africa's war zones that the international community cannot quickly reach and is not welcomed or viewed as a long term solution.

_ _ _

Note:

"The international community is currently addressing 59 active conflicts across more than 35 countries, marking the highest level of global conflict since the end of the Second World War. This situation reflects a significant increase in violence and fragmentation, with the number of state-based armed conflicts reaching a record high in 2024."

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 

https://www.icrc.org/en/article/icrc-2024-upholding-humanity-conflict

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African Union Commission chief & UNOCHA express concern over deteriorating situation in western Sudan

AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION CHIEF Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat said the significant buildup of fighters and weapons in the vicinity of El Fasher, North Darfur poses a grave threat to the lives, property and livelihoods of millions of people and complicates an already-difficult peace-making process.

The AUC chief further called on all Sudanese actors to support the efforts of the AU High Level Panel on Sudan which is trying to convene in the coming days a preparatory process for an all-inclusive Sudan political dialogue. 

On Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) expressed concern that the manoeuvring of opposing armed forces in western Sudan is raising tensions, blocking aid to thousands of people and creating a horrifying situation for civilians.

Read full story by Xinhua dated Saturday, 27 April 2024.
https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/274317454/au-expresses-concern-over-deteriorating-situation-in-western-sudan

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Sudan & South Sudan: Adama Dieng appointed as first African Union (AU) special envoy for the prevention of the crime of genocide and other mass atrocities

Report from Human Rights Watch
Dated Tuesday, 23 April 2024 7:15AM EDT - here is a copy in full:

Can New African Union Genocide Envoy Curb Atrocities in Africa?

Adama Dieng has Mandate to ‘Combat the Ideology of Hate’

Click to expand Image

Adama Dieng, then-UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, New York, June 2019. © 2019 Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Adama Dieng has been appointed as the first African Union (AU) special envoy for the prevention of the crime of genocide and other mass atrocities.

Dieng will drive the organization’s agenda to “combat the ideology of hate and genocide on the continent,” said AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat. The April 6 appointment could not be more symbolic, marking 30 years since the Rwandan genocide and harkening to the failure of the international community to stop the slaughter.

Dieng has occupied several positions within the United Nations human rights and justice system, including as a registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), then as UN designated expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan. From 2012 to 2020, he was UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, with a mandate to raise the alarm over situations likely to spiral into genocide and mobilize UN security council action to prevent such atrocities.

Dieng’s new appointment comes at a time when Africa is witnessing spates of terrible mass atrocities and serious crimes, with dire humanitarian consequences, and little to no international attention.

April 15 marked the first anniversary of the fast-deteriorating conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). While both parties have committed egregious laws of war violations, the targeted attacks on ethnic non-Arab communities in West Darfur by the RSF and allied militias have evoked the spectre of the horrific Darfur war. That conflict killed 300,000 people in the early 2000s and led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict then-Sudan President Omar al-Bashir.

Government forces in Burkina Faso have carried out mass killings of civilians as part of a brutal campaign to tackle Islamist armed groups, who have also committed serious abuses. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, government forces and armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, have committed atrocities against civilians in violence throughout North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

Atrocities and serious crimes are nevertheless not limited to war time, as illustrated by the October 30, 2022 crackdown on protestors in Chad, when scores of protesters were shot by security forces.

Dieng’s newly created regional mandate could be a timely boost to existing international mechanisms on atrocities prevention if it proves to be an indication of more genuine AU political willingness to end mass abuse and uphold accountability standards.

View original:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/23/can-new-african-union-genocide-envoy-curb-atrocities-africa

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AU calls for Ramadan cessation of hostilities in Sudan

AFRICANS should put pressure on leaders of the African Union and IGAD to work harder and faster and do their jobs properly or step aside for others who are able and willing to do a good honest job. Too many Africans are still living in poverty without a right to land ownership and access to the law.

From Xinhu 

By Editor: Huaxia

Dated Saturday, 9 March 2024, 18:54:30 - here is a copy in full:

AU calls for Ramadan cessation of hostilities in Sudan

ADDIS ABABA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat has called for the cessation of hostilities in Sudan during the holy month of Ramadan.

The AU Commission chairperson "calls upon Sudanese parties to observe a total cease-fire across the whole national territory throughout the holy month of Ramadan," the AU said in a statement on Friday.

Faki stressed that such a cease-fire during the holy month of Ramadan could help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in need throughout the conflict-torn country.

He urged the warring parties "to shoulder their responsibilities to prevent the serious risk of famine and other humanitarian catastrophes from befalling the Sudanese people and the neighboring states."

Deadly clashes have been going on between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan since April last year.

Amid the continued fighting in different parts of the country, Sudan is now home to the world's largest internal displacement crisis, with 6.3 million people seeking safety within the country since the beginning of the conflict. Another 1.7 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the cessation of hostilities in Sudan during the holy month of Ramadan.

"A Ramadan cessation of hostilities can help stem the suffering and usher the way to sustainable peace. 

Let us spare no effort to support the people of Sudan in their legitimate aspirations for a peaceful and secure future," said Guterres. 

View original:

http://www.chinaview.cn/20240309/83e35ba2203e458790c3456dd3010964/c.html

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AU High-Level Panel on Sudan met dissolved NCP

"In a rare move, the African Union High-Level Panel on Sudan met with representatives of the dissolved National Congress Party (NCP) of the former Islamist regime in Cairo on Wednesday.

Over the past two days, the panel also held meetings in Port Sudan with figures including Sudanese Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Popular Congress Party (Shura Council’s wing), and others. 

Meanwhile, the Civil Democratic Forces Coordination Mechanism (“Tagadum”) is expected to meet with the panel in Addis Ababa on Thursday." Read more.

From Sudan Tribune

Dated Wednesday, 6 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

African Union mechanism meets dissolved Sudanese Islamist party in Cairo

AU HLP- Sudan poses with the NCP delegation on March 6, 2024

March 6, 2024 (CAIRO) – In a rare move, the African Union High-Level Panel on Sudan met with representatives of the dissolved National Congress Party (NCP) of the former Islamist regime in Cairo on Wednesday.

This meeting was part of the panel’s ongoing efforts to hold talks with various Sudanese political groups aimed at ending the ongoing conflict.

Sources confirmed to Sudan Tribune that the meeting, held at the Sheraton Hotel, followed similar talks with representatives of the Forces of Freedom and Change – Democratic Bloc.

Over the past two days, the panel also held meetings in Port Sudan with figures including Sudanese Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Popular Congress Party (Shura Council’s wing), and others. 

Meanwhile, the Civil Democratic Forces Coordination Mechanism (“Tagadum”) is expected to meet with the panel in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

The meeting with the NCP delegation, which included party leading members Amira Al-Fadil and Osama Faisal, focused on the Sudanese crisis and potential solutions to the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023.

However, sources stated that NCP representatives claimed they lacked the mandate to discuss the proposed agenda and advised the panel to meet with the party’s leadership within Sudan.

In August 2023, Yasir Arman, a spokesperson for the Forces for Freedom and Change, criticized potential involvement of the NCP in peace talks, viewing it as rewarding them for past actions.

Tagadum and other pro-democracy forces in Sudan agreed to exclude the National Congress Party (NCP) from the transitional government, as provided in the 2019 Constitutional Declaration. They argue that the NCP, an Islamist group banned after the 2019 revolution, would impede the establishment of a secular state.

The African Union (AU), however, advocates for the NCP’s inclusion, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity in the political process. The AU sees the NCP’s support for the military in its conflict with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a potential entry point for their involvement.

Led by former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the Tagadum delegation is expected to reiterate its firm opposition to the NCP’s participation in the transitional period.

View original: https://sudantribune.com/article282990/

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