Sudan: UNSC to discuss protection of civilians & humanitarian consequences of ongoing conflict in N. Kordofan, Blue Nile. 200K displaced across Kordofan

From Security Council Report

What's In Blue 
Posted Friday 21 August 2026 - excerpts:

Sudan: Briefing

On Monday morning (24 August), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on Sudan. Denmark, the Council president in August, requested the meeting to discuss the protection of civilians and the humanitarian consequences of the ongoing conflict. Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is expected to chair the meeting. [...]

DiCarlo is likely to provide an overview of the deteriorating security situation, which has been particularly volatile in North Kordofan state. El Obeid, the state capital, has faced mounting pressure amid a significant build-up of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied fighters around the city. Repeated drone strikes have targeted critical civilian infrastructure in and around El Obeid, including power and fuel facilities, forcing medical facilities and water stations to shut down. As the hostilities have continued, displacement sites in the city have expanded with people fleeing violence in surrounding areas. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the wider Kordofan region since late 2025. (For more information, see our 4 August What’s in Blue story.)

In Blue Nile state, the security and humanitarian situation deteriorated following the expansion of fighting around the town of Kurmuk and other areas along the Ethiopian border. After the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) retook control of Kurmuk from the RSF in July, media reports indicated that the SAF had discovered a mass grave containing the remains of 25 people, including women, children, and hospital staff. Earlier this month, hostilities broke out again in both Kurmuk and the town of Geisan, killing civilians and driving displacement. Media reports indicated that the RSF, together with the allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, had retaken the towns. The fighting has raised concerns about the further regionalisation of the conflict, particularly amid allegations of external support to the RSF. These include claims that Ethiopian territory has been used as a supply conduit for RSF operations and that the latest RSF offensive in Blue Nile was launched from inside Ethiopia.

On Monday, the briefers and some Council members may highlight how the increasing use of drones and other advanced weaponry is intensifying civilian suffering and expanding the geographic reach of the conflict. Attacks are increasingly affecting populated areas and critical infrastructure. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), armed drones accounted for 80 percent of civilian deaths in the first half of this year, hitting markets, health facilities, and other civilian sites.

DiCarlo might describe the efforts by regional and international interlocutors to identify avenues for de-escalation and bring an end to the conflict. In late July and early August, the Quintet—comprising the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States (LAS), and the UN—held consultations in Addis Ababa with Sudanese political blocs and parties, including representatives of the Coordination of National Forces, Democratic Bloc, National Movement Forces, and Umma Party. The latest discussions built on the Quintet’s initial engagement with a group of Sudanese civilian actors on the sidelines of the third international Sudan conference, held in Berlin on 15 April, and further consultations in early June.

On 10 August, media reports indicated that SAF leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had held consultations with political and civil society actors aimed at preparing for a comprehensive intra-Sudanese dialogue conference. The discussions reportedly resulted in agreement on several confidence-building measures, including the suspension of charges carrying the death penalty against some political figures—mainly those associated with former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok—and on the establishment of a preparatory committee for the conference.

On 16 and 17 August, a delegation of the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) undertook a field visit to Sudan, during which it met with senior Sudanese officials, including Burhan and Transitional Prime Minister Kamil El-Tayeb Idris. Discussions covered the country’s political, security, socioeconomic, and humanitarian situation, as well as governance challenges and efforts towards an inclusive national dialogue. The AU has sought to reopen its liaison office in Sudan to facilitate engagement with stakeholders at different levels and provide technical support to the country. (Sudan’s membership in the AU was suspended in the wake of the country’s 2021 military coup d’état.) [...]

View original: 

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2026/08/sudan-briefing-8.php

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Further reading

Madamasr.com - August 21, 2026

Sudan Nashra: Burhan offers temporary immunity for internal dialogue participants | AU Peace, Security Council in Khartoum | Khartoum, Riyadh establish bilateral coordination council | Second-largest single group RSF defection arrive in Northern State

Photo: TSC Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a delegation from the African Union’s Peace and Security Council meet in Khartoum, August 16. Courtesy: The TSC

https://www.madamasr.com/en/2026/08/21/news/politics/sudan-nashra-burhan-offers-temporary-immunity-for-internal-dialogue-participants-au-peace-security-council-in-khartoum-khartoum-riyadh-establish-bilateral-coordination-council-second-largest/

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Madamasr.com - August 14, 2026

Sudan Nashra: In cross-border offensive, RSF seizes Blue Nile’s Geisan, recaptures Kurmuk | Military repels major RSF attack on North Kordofan’s Gabra al-Sheikh | After clashes inside Kauda, SPLM-N-Otoro fighting spreads to nearby villages | Kordofan governor in RSF-led govt defects | Back-to-back Sudanese visits to Juba in mutual push to contain border, Abyei tensions

Photo: RSF fighters and their allies, the SPLM-N (Hilu) forces led by Joseph Toka, attack the town of Geisan in Blue Nile state, August 11. Courtesy: Sudan War Monitor

https://www.madamasr.com/en/2026/08/14/news/politics/sudan-nashra-in-cross-border-offensive-rsf-seizes-blue-niles-geisan-recaptures-kurmuk-military-repels-major-rsf-attack-on-north-kordofans-gabra-al-sheikh-after-clashes-inside/

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UNSC Prog Aug 2026: South Sudan's UNMISS & Developments in Sudan's Darfur, Blue Nile, Kordofan

Denmark holds the presidency of the Security Council in August. Council members adopted the provisional programme of work for the month earlier today (3 August). Read more.

From What's In Blue 

Posted Mon 3 Aug 2026 - excerpts:

Security Council Programme of Work for August 2026

Council members are expected to hold closed consultations on Sudan on 5 August. Denmark and the UK (the penholder on the file) requested the meeting on 31 July to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country, particularly developments in the Darfur, Blue Nile, and Kordofan regions. An OCHA official is expected to brief.

The Security Council will hold an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the situation in South Sudan and the work of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Briefings are expected from Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS Anita Kiki Gbeho, Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) Major General (retired) George Aggrey Owinow, and a civil society representative.

Original: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2026/08/security-council-programme-of-work-for-august-2026.php

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Sudan: UN Security Council Meeting 26 Mar 2026. Increased drone attacks spilling across Sudan borders

Report from What's In Blue 

Dated Thursday 26 March 2026 - excerpts:

Sudan: Meeting under “Any Other Business”

Today (Thursday 26 March) at 4:30 pm, Security Council members will discuss the situation in Sudan under “any other business” following the discussion on the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in closed consultations. 

The UK (the penholder on the file) and Denmark, supported by the A3 members (the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], Liberia, and Somalia), requested the meeting after a 20 March strike on a hospital in East Darfur state reportedly killed around 70 people. 

Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher are expected to brief. The UK may propose press elements on the meeting.  [...]

In a 24 March press release, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned of a sharp increase this year in the use of drones to conduct airstrikes in the country, highlighting the devastating impact of relatively inexpensive, high-tech weapons in populated areas. It documented over 500 civilian deaths in such strikes between 1 January and 15 March, the majority of which occurred in the Kordofan region.

The press release also highlighted that expanding drone attacks are spilling across Sudan’s borders, raising concerns about further escalation with regional implications. It referred to incidents affecting the border towns of Tina in Sudan and Tiné in Chad following RSF ground offensives. 

On 16 March, around 20 people, including civilians, were reportedly killed and 60 others injured during an RSF ground offensive on Tina. On 18 March, a drone strike in Tiné reportedly launched from Sudan killed at least 24 civilians and injured around 70 others. 

Chad closed its border with Sudan in late February following fighting in Tiné between the RSF and pro-SAF fighters that resulted in the deaths of five Chadian soldiers. 

Following the recent cross-border strike in Tiné, Chadian authorities reportedly reinforced security along the border with Sudan and began the emergency relocation of refugees from border areas.  [...]

Regional and international diplomatic efforts on both the humanitarian and political fronts have continued; however, a significant breakthrough remains elusive. 

Pekka Haavisto of Finland, who assumed his role as the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan in late February, visited Port Sudan and Khartoum earlier this week. During the visit, he met with, among others, the SAF leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the finance minister and leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) faction Jibril Ibrahim. 

In a statement released yesterday (25 March), Haavisto underscored the importance of dialogue and de-escalation as essential steps towards a comprehensive ceasefire, as well as stressed the need to advance civilian protection and to explore confidence-building measures to create conditions for a meaningful political process. Haavisto further indicated that he would continue consultations in the coming weeks with a broad range of stakeholders across the region.

The US has been leading efforts, in coordination with the other Quad members—Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia—to facilitate a humanitarian truce. 

In his remarks at the 19 February Council meeting on the situation in Sudan, US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos called for an immediate humanitarian truce, without preconditions, which he argued must guarantee sustained and unhindered humanitarian access across conflict lines and borders. 

He also noted that the US has been working with the Secretary-General’s office, DPPA, OCHA, and other UN entities to establish a UN mechanism to support implementation, coordination, and oversight of the truce and related humanitarian access commitments. [...]

On 19 February, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned three RSF commanders for their involvement in atrocities in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. The UK and the European Union (EU) have also previously designated these same individuals. 

On 24 March, the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee also designated four RSF commanders, including the group’s deputy commander Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo. 

On 9 March, the US Department of State designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and a Foreign Terrorist Organization. It argued that the group uses violence against civilians to undermine conflict resolution efforts and advance its “violent Islamist ideology”, claiming that the group’s fighters have conducted “mass executions of civilians” and have received support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Read full report here: 

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2026/03/sudan-meeting-under-any-other-business-5.php

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Sudan atrocities are 'hallmarks of genocide', UN says

"The world is still failing the people of Sudan," Cooper said. "When the stories started to emerge about the horrors of el-Fasher it should have been a turning point, but the violence is continuing. Today, in the Security Council, the UK as President will make sure the world does not look away." More.

From BBC News
By Barbara Plett Usher
Africa correspondent
Published Thursday 19 February 2026, 9am GMT - full copy:

Sudan atrocities are 'hallmarks of genocide', UN says

IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS

A UN fact-finding mission has determined that evidence of atrocities carried out during the siege and takeover of the Sudanese city of el-Fasher points to genocide.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured el-Fasher, located in the western region of Darfur, at the end of October after an 18-month blockade.

It was one of the most brutal chapters in Sudan's nearly three-year civil war and triggered widespread international outrage.

This is the closest the UN has come to declaring that genocide is being carried out by RSF fighters in Darfur during the current conflict. The RSF has not commented on the report but has denied previous such accusations.

"The body of evidence we collected — including the prolonged siege, starvation and denial of humanitarian assistance, followed by mass killings, rape, torture and enforced disappearance, systematic humiliation and perpetrators' own declarations - leaves only one reasonable inference," said fact-finding mission expert Mona Rishmawi. "The RSF acted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El-Fasher. These are the hallmarks of genocide."

The report concludes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed, including killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction in whole or in part.

Calling the findings "truly horrific", UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would take the report's conclusions to the UN Security Council on Thursday.

In a statement she said there must be international criminal investigations to ensure accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims, and an end to the arms flow feeding the conflict.

Sudan's civil war erupted in April 2023 out of a power struggle between the regular army and the RSF over how and whether the paramilitaries would integrate into the security forces. It evolved into a country-wide conflict fuelled by longstanding local grievances and ethnic divisions.

In the Darfur region, Arab militias that form the backbone of the RSF have targeted non-Arabs they see as enemies, using savage tactics also employed some 20 years ago. At that time, they massacred hundreds of thousands of Darfuris from indigenous African ethnic groups, employed by the country's then authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir to put down local rebellions.

IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS. Image caption, During the long siege of el-Fasher, this school where people were sheltering was shelled

The report says the city was deliberately starved and destroyed during the long siege, which systematically weakened the "targeted population" and left them defenceless against the extreme violence that followed.

"Thousands of persons, particularly the Zaghawa, were killed, raped or disappeared during three days of absolute horror," it says, as RSF troops failed to distinguish between Zaghawa civilians and the armed groups defending the city.

Investigators described RSF conduct in el-Fasher as an aggravation of earlier patterns but on a far more lethal scale, noting that this demonstrates the failure to prevent the atrocities despite clear warning signs. They say without prevention and accountability, the risk of "more genocidal acts remains serious and ongoing".

The mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in Geneva called on the investigative team to "identify, where possible" suspected perpetrators in a bid to ensure they are "held accountable".

The report names RSF Leader Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (widely known as Hemedti) and spokesperson Lt Col Al-Fatih Al-Qurashi, citing the way they publicly claimed and celebrated the operation.

It notes that General Hemedti acknowledged some "violations" had occurred during the takeover of the city but that while he described el-Fasher as a "catastrophe", he justified the assault as necessary.

The RSF leader also issued instructions for his fighters not to harm civilians or kill prisoners, and he promised investigations. But investigators say the RSF did not respond to the mission's request to clarify the steps it had taken, or any other questions.

"The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by the senior Rapid Support Forces leadership point to a planned and organised operation executed through an established hierarchy and structure, rather than isolated acts," the UN mission said.

The report names one one notorious commander known as "Abu Lulu" who was arrested after viral footage of his brutality surfaced, but said the RSF had provided no information regarding any judicial proceedings.

It also says that despite their best efforts, the UN mission did not receive cooperation from Sudanese authorities. Yvette Cooper called obstructions "from both warring parties... shameful and unacceptable".

The mission's mandate did not include an investigation into the role of external actors who may be supporting the RSF.

But crucially the report notes that the RSF's military campaign was reinforced by foreign mercenaries equipped with "advanced weaponry and communications systems".

It says investigators are engaging with several states regarding "credible information" that they are involved and will report on this matter in the future.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is widely reported to be the main backer of the RSF, although it continues to forcefully deny this, despite extensive evidence from international investigations that the UN has previously described as credible.

Abu Dhabi's role came under increased scrutiny after the el-Fasher massacre, but there was no public pressure on the Emiratis from the UN, the US or the UK.

The investigators called on the international community to fully enforce the existing arms embargo on Darfur and expand it to the rest of the country; to prevent the transfer of weapons and other support to parties implicated in serious violations; to ensure accountability through targeted sanctions; to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court; and to consider the establishment of a judicial mechanism working in tandem with it.

Cooper said it was important that the fact-finding mission planned to conduct further investigations into reported breaches of the arms embargo and agreed that it should be extended and enforced.

She said she planned to highlight the systematic and widespread sexual violence which she calls "a war against women's bodies".

"Most important of all we need global action and pressure in pursuit of a ceasefire, and essential humanitarian access with support for survivors," she said.

The UN Security Council session is aimed at pushing for progress on a humanitarian truce, which has been elusive despite the enormous civilian suffering. The warring parties both frame the conflict as an existential battle and are able to continue fighting with increasingly sophisticated weapons supplied by their foreign backers.

"The world is still failing the people of Sudan," Cooper said. "When the stories started to emerge about the horrors of el-Fasher it should have been a turning point, but the violence is continuing. Today, in the Security Council, the UK as President will make sure the world does not look away."

More on this story

A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan

Published 13 November 2025

'Our job is only killing' - how Sudan's brutal militia carried out a massacre
Published 7 November 2025

'I saw them driving over injured people' - the terrifying escape from war in Sudan
Published 30 November 2025

Sudan's RSF trying to cover up mass killings in el-Fasher, researchers say
Published 16 December 2025

Sudanese city had 6,000 killed in three days, UN says
Published 5 days ago

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpqw74d81jqo

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