General updates

War and Humanitarian Devastation

In December 2025 and again in February 2026, the United Nations intensified its appeals for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, urging both parties to halt hostilities and engage in meaningful negotiations toward a civilian-led political process. The UN stressed the urgent need to protect civilians, ensure unhindered humanitarian access, and prevent further deterioration of the already catastrophic humanitarian situation, reiterating its readiness to support inclusive dialogue efforts.

Sudan’s political situation has remained highly unstable, with Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Chairman and Army Commander Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan rejecting any peace settlement that would include the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a political actor. This stance has entrenched divisions, leaving the country split between RSF-controlled areas in most of Darfur and SAF-held territories in the capital, as well as the eastern and northern regions, with ongoing fighting, territorial fragmentation, and lack of inclusive political engagement perpetuating an unresolved conflict that places civilians at severe risk.

On 9 February 2026, the UN reported deadly drone attacks on civilians in Kordofan, including strikes on a mosque that killed children. From November 2025 through February 2026, fighting has been concentrated in North and South Kordofan and Darfur, with frequent drone and artillery strikes, urban shelling, and ground offensives. Neither the SAF nor the RSF have achieved territorial dominance, while civilians continue to suffer high casualties, forced displacement, destruction of homes, and attacks on hospitals, schools, and markets. Thousands remain trapped in conflict zones, facing acute insecurity and limited access to food, water, and medical care.

As of February 2026, OHCHR in Sudan reported mass killings in El Fasher, including approximately 6.000 deaths over three days, alongside “sexual violence as a weapon of war, abductions for ransom, thousands detained & disappeared”.

The humanitarian emergency in Sudan has therefore worsened dramatically, especially since the capture of Al Fasher on 26 October 2025. The takeover triggered renewed fighting across North Darfur and the three Kordofan states, generating instability and large-scale displacement.
Between 26 October and the end of November, more than 106,000 people fled Al Fasher and nearby villages, spreading across 37 localities in 11 states. Tawila has absorbed the largest share of displaced families, while over 6,000 individuals undertook a dangerous journey of more than 800 kilometres to reach Ad Dabbah in Northern State.
Reports also indicate gender-based violence, abductions, and killings. Families stranded on transit routes are exposed to hunger, ransom-related detentions, and ongoing violence.
Famine has been confirmed in Al Fasher and Kadugli, with severe child malnutrition reported across affected areas, while cholera and measles outbreaks are spreading amid collapsing health services, unsafe water, and overcrowded displacement sites as Kadugli and Dilling have been under siege-like conditions, with thousands trapped and humanitarian access severely restricted.

Humanitarian operations are heavily restricted due to insecurity and movement limitations, significantly hampering the delivery of essential assistance.
Protection risks are extremely high. In North Darfur alone, 701 separated children and 244 unaccompanied children have been identified.
Education systems have largely collapsed, leaving children without access to safe learning environments.
The situation in Sudanese prisons is also deteriorating. Shala Prison alone holds over 9,000 civilian detainees, many wounded by indiscriminate shelling and lacking medical care. As of February 2026, daily deaths from untreated injuries, disease, and cholera are reported, with over 300 deaths in the past two months and 5–10 weekly from cholera.

International diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Sudan continued but struggled to produce breakthroughs. Various regional and global actors — including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye, and Qatar — have repeatedly called for ceasefires and negotiated settlements. However, no comprehensive or sustained political process has materialized, and international mediation has yet to succeed in significantly curbing the fighting or achieving a lasting ceasefire.


Association

Human rights defenders and humanitarian workers are being increasingly targeted in the context of Sudan’s civil war. The first two weeks of February 2026 were marked by repeated drone attacks on civilian areas, placing humanitarian workers at grave risk. During this time, the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) team was treating 167 patients for injuries from drone strikes.
On 19 February 2026, a drone strike hit an aid convoy carrying humanitarian supplies in the Kartala area of South Kordofan, killing three aid workers and wounding four others as they were travelling to deliver assistance to Kadugli and Dilling. The attack was attributed to drones reportedly operated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) amid heavy fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese army.


Expression

Attacks, Detention, and Enforced Disappearances on Journalists

In January 2026, The Committee for Justice (CFJ) reported serious violations against journalists and media workers in Sudan over the past year. According to the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) report, 67 violations against journalists and media outlets were documented, 14 journalists and media professionals were killed, 6 individuals were subjected to enforced disappearance, 4 faced long-term detention, 9 experienced arbitrary or temporary arrests, and 4 judicial prosecutions were documented, reflecting the ongoing threats to press freedom and the extreme risks faced by media personnel in the country.
Similarly, the ability of journalists and ordinary citizens to report and access information has been severely disrupted by the near-total collapse of communications infrastructure, including widespread internet shutdowns and telecommunications outages.

Women journalists in Sudan have been systematically targeted during the ongoing conflict, often forced into exile and lacking adequate safety support. As of December 2025, around 40 % of female journalists experienced physical abuse, sexual assault, digital harassment, and threats; two were killed, nearly half were displaced or fled abroad, and over half reported job losses or income reduction, with most lacking safety training.

Sudanese freelance journalist Muammar Ibrahim was arrested by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 26 October 2025 in El-Fasher, North Darfur, while attempting to leave the city after it fell under RSF control. Shortly after his arrest, a video circulated showing him in RSF custody, and he was later reportedly transferred to Nyala, South Darfur. Since then, his exact whereabouts, legal status, and health condition have remained unknown, and he has been held without access to his family or legal counsel. In January 2026, international human rights organizations publicly called on the RSF to immediately release him, ensure his safety, and respect the protections afforded to journalists under international law.

Enforced disappearances and detention of journalists were reported on 5 November 2025, when the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate stated that around twenty journalists had been present in the camps of El Fasher and Abu Shouk before fighting erupted. Twelve managed to reach safety in Tawila, two were arrested and detained, contact was lost with seven others, including two women journalists and the forced detention of four additional journalists had been documented prior to the assault on the city.

In early December 2025, Osman Mirghani, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Tayyar, was subjected to an organized campaign of harassment, receiving explicit death threats and direct calls for violence due to his political views. He reported being targeted with hundreds of threatening phone calls and messages, highlighting the growing risks faced by journalists expressing independent or critical opinions in Sudan.

Targeting Independent Media 

Restrictions on media operations were imposed on 10 November 2025, when Sudan’s Ministry of Culture and Information banned Sky News Arabia from working in the country, arguing that the channel lacked official authorization to conduct media activities and that its staff were operating without the required license, in violation of national law. Following these measures, in December 2025, access to independent online media was further restricted when Droobb, a Sudanese independent news website covering civic affairs and human rights issues (droobb.com), was blocked in the country. Although the site remained technically operational and continued publishing updates, it could only be accessed via VPNs, limiting the public’s ability to obtain independent reporting on human rights violations amid the ongoing conflict.

Targeting Civilians

In Kassala State, on 24 November 2025, security forces carried out a large-scale operation resulting in the arrest of more than ten civilians. During the campaign, several young men were publicly subjected to head-shaving and others were beaten with batons

In East Darfur State, during December 2025, the Youth Citizens Observers Network (YCON) documented multiple cases of civilians being detained in prisons outside judicial oversight, with some detainees dying due to deteriorating health conditions. Families of detainees in Al-Daein increasingly demanded the release of relatives held in Daqris prison in Nyala, highlighting a growing pattern of arbitrary arrests and the lack of legal protections or guarantees for those detained.

Observers from the Youth Citizens Observers Network (YCON) reported that on 24 and 25 January 2026, security forces in Khartoum State conducted random searches and prolonged detentions without formal charges, particularly in Bahri (East Nile) and Omdurman. These actions were carried out under the locally known “Foreign Faces” law, which has been widely criticized for relying on ethnic or appearance-based criteria.

Restricted Access to Information

The situation has remained largely unchanged since late 2025, with internet shutdowns and deliberate disruptions continuing across Sudan, leaving large parts of the population without reliable access to news and independent reporting, further impeding documentation of human rights violations and leaving the media landscape vulnerable to disinformation. In El‑Fasher, for example, the combination of restricted communications, internet outages, and the absence of independent reporting created an environment in which false and manipulated content spread rapidly. Videos claiming to show atrocities—such as a mother hiding with her children from soldiers or a young girl trapped in a metal barrel—were later proven to be either unrelated to the conflict or reused from other sources, while dozens of AI-generated clips depicting destruction, displacement, and human suffering circulated widely on social media.

Peaceful Assembly

Sudanese diaspora communities organized several significant peaceful protests in response to the ongoing conflict and human rights violations in Sudan. On 2 November 2025, hundreds of Sudanese in Paris and Berlin held marches calling for an end to the violence. On 8 November 2025, thousands marched in London, with simultaneous demonstrations reported in cities including Paris, Berlin, Washington D.C., Toronto, and Sydney, demanding justice for Darfur, an end to alleged genocide, and accountability for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their supporters. On 20 December 2025, Sudanese residents in London held a peaceful protest outside the UK Prime Minister’s Office, urging an end to the war.

Observers documented widespread human rights violations in Khartoum State, particularly in the Greater Omdurman localities of Karrari, Ombada, and Abu Saad, between 10 and 13 December 2025. During this period, police and other security forces forcibly dispersed peaceful demonstrations, including marches commemorating the December Revolution on 19 December 2025, and carried out mass arrests of dozens of participants, many of whom were detained without clear legal procedures. In addition, observers reported night raids on homes, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances, occurring alongside widespread looting by irregular armed groups.

Between 22 and 23 January 2026, in Al-Qarqaf area, Kassala State, eastern Sudan, tensions escalated following clashes between residents and anti-smuggling security forces that led to widespread arrests and alleged abuses. On 22 January, more than 20 young men were arrested during confrontations in the village, prompting protests in which residents blocked the Kassala–Port Sudan highway. On the same day, masked paramilitaries abducted Dr. Mujahid Saadouk outside a health centre, reportedly beating and blindfolding him before transferring him to an intelligence unit under unclear charges. On 23 January, protests intensified, and residents reportedly set fire to an anti-smuggling camp in response to what they described as arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.