Cholera Outbreak Kills at Least Fifty-Eight in Three-Day Span in Sudan
The outbreak, which has also infected around 1,300 others, is linked to contaminated drinking water in the southern city of Kosti after paramilitary attacks shut down the city’s water plant (CBS)
RSF Kills Hundreds in Southern Sudan
Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) conducted a three-day assault on villages in the White Nile State, with reports of mass executions and looting; Emergency Lawyers, a human rights organization, reported the death toll at over 200, while Khartoum cited over 430 civilians (Al Jazeera)
This comes as leaders from RSF and other armed groups meet in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the announcement of a new government over currently-controlled territories later this week (Reuters)
RSF and Allied Groups Preparing to Sign Political Charter Setting Up Parallel Government
Meanwhile, the head of Sudan’s army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced he was forming a new “democratic political bloc;” the creation of parallel governments would mirror the fracturing of Libya amid its civil war (Bloomberg)
Sudan Announces Joint Projects in Mining, Banking, and Livestock With Iran After Delegation Visit
Bilateral relations were paused after Sudan sent troops to fight Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015 but have improved since 2023 (Reuters)
Tehran now backs the Sudanese army’s fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (Bloomberg)
Russia and Sudan Agree to Construct a Russian Naval Base on Sudan’s Red Sea Coast
This move comes as the future of a Russian naval base in northwestern Syria—a hub for Middle East and Africa operations—is uncertain after the December rebel overthrow of former Syrian leader and Russian ally Bashar al-Assad (FT)
Sudan’s Army Dismisses UAE Call for Cease-fire During Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan
Sudan, as well as UN experts, say that the UAE arms the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country’s civil war; in recent days, the RSF has staged attacks on El Fasher, the last major army-held city in the Darfur region (Reuters)
UN: RSF Preventing Delivery of Humanitarian Aid to Darfur
The United Nations stated that bureaucratic hurdles and obstructions by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) threaten civilians in the famine-afflicted Darfur region in western Sudan (AP)
Sudanese Army Announces Plans to Form “Caretaker” Government
The planned government would facilitate the defeat of opposing Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country, create a new constitution, and appoint a prime minister; army leadership stated that the government would form as soon as Khartoum was recaptured (BBC)
UN World Food Program in Sudan Warns of Risks of U.S. Funding Freeze
United Nations staff stated that mortality due to malnutrition and disease in Sudan will worsen due to the United States’ ninety-day suspension on foreign aid and the impending closure of USAID (CBS)
54 Civilians Killed, Over 158 Injured in RSF Strike on Market in Omdurman
The Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched artillery strikes on the Sabrein open-air market in the second-most populous city in Sudan, which is located in Khartoum State (AP News)
WHO: Attack on Only Working Hospital in El Fasher Kills Around Seventy People
Local officials said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out the attack (Bloomberg)
Washington Sanctions Sudanese Military Leader
The Treasury Department said military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was responsible for attacks on civilians and denial of humanitarian access in the country’s civil war; these follow sanctions put on Burhan’s chief rival, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on January 7 (Bloomberg)
Unnamed U.S. officials also told the New York Times that Burhan’s troops had used chemical weapons (NYT)
Rapid Support Forces Acknowledge Sudanese Army Has Recaptured City of Wad Madani
The city is an agricultural and trading hub that the RSF has held since 2023; the push comes as the army also reclaimed Sudan’s second-largest city, Omdurman, last week (Sudan Tribune,Al Jazeera)
Sudanese Army Recaptures RSF Stronghold
Rebel group Rapid Support Forces acknowledged that the Sudanese army has recaptured the city of Wad Madani, an agricultural and trading hub which the rebels had held since 2023 (Sudan Tribune)
The push comes as the army also reclaimed Sudan’s second largest city, Omdurman, last week (Al Jazeera)
Washington Says Sudanese Paramilitaries Have Committed Genocide
Actions taken by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allied militias in Sudan’s civil war amount to genocide, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said; the Treasury Department announced sanctions on RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti, and seven Emirati firms it said were supplying weapons to the rebels (NYT)
Blinken said the designation was part of efforts to promote peace and accountability in the country; tens of thousands have been killed in the RSF’s war with the Sudanese military, which Blinken called “the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe” (Department of State)
Global hunger watchdog IPC last month declared famine is underway in five of the country’s districts, making it one of the world’s worst famines in decades; at least 25 million Sudanese are experiencing acute hunger (IPC)
More than eleven million people have fled their homes (IOM)
The RSF and allied militias have committed murders and rapes on an ethnic basis, killed innocent people fleeing conflict, and denied civilians access to lifesaving supplies, Blinken said (AP)
This is the seventh genocide declaration in U.S. history, according to the National Security Council (WaPo)
Various efforts to mediate an end to the conflict have so far proved unfruitful (NYT)
White House Pledges Own Assessment of UAE’s Statement on Weapons to Sudan
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) told the United States it is not supplying arms to Sudanese rebel forces, a White House official told lawmakers in a letter seen by Reuters; the White House said it would report its own assessment on the UAE guarantees by January 17 (Reuters)
The assurance comes as some in Congress have tried to block U.S. arms sales to the UAE over concerns about conduct in Sudan’s civil war (AFP).
RSF Fighters and Allied Militias Have Raped Women From South Kordofan State and Held Some as Sex Slaves for More Than a Year
Human Rights Watch called for a UN and African Union mission to protect civilians in Sudan from the RSF’s large-scale sexual violence (Sudan Tribune)
Sudan Bombardments Reportedly Kill More Than 127 People in Two Days
Barrel bombs and shelling by both sides in Sudan’s now twenty-month-long civil war killed a group of mostly civilians, human rights activists said (Reuters)
The news spread as the International Criminal Court today hears closing statements in a trial of alleged war crimes committed in Sudan twenty years ago (RFI)
Rapid Support Forces Shell Zamzam Refugee Camp
The camp shelters at least half a million people and a global food monitor in August said it was experiencing famine; the RSF denied attacking the camp (Reuters)
U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Visits Country for First Time Since Outbreak of War
Tom Perriello met with Sudan’s army leader and humanitarian, government, and tribal leaders to call for an uptick in aid allowed into the country (Reuters)
His visit came as Russia was the sole veto on a UN Security Council resolution, quashing its chances of calling for a cease-fire and increasing aid into the country (Reuters)
Study Finds Over Sixty-One Thousand Died in Sudan’s War
Starvation, disease, and violent deaths combined have killed upwards of sixty-one thousand people in the Sudanese state of Khartoum alone over fourteen months of civil war, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said in a preprint study; the estimate exceeds what the United Nations has counted as deaths in the entire country during the conflict (Reuters)
UN Official: Sudan Violence Escalates in Unceasing Weapons Flow
At least 124 civilians have been killed in Sudan’s El Gezira state since October 20, the United Nations tallied; UN peacebuilding official Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that both sides “seem convinced they can prevail on the battlefield,” while analysts from Human Rights Watch and the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said no political solution appeared to be on the horizon (AFP)
UN Leader: New Approaches Needed as Sudan Becomes ‘Nightmare of Mass Ethnic Violence’
António Guterres acknowledged calls by Sudanese groups for increased protection of civilians in its civil war while addressing the Security Council; Guterres said the conditions were not right for the deployment of a UN force, but that he was ready to discuss other methods of reducing violence (Reuters)
The Rapid Support Forces militia killed at least 124 people in an El Gezira village on Friday, activists said (BBC)
IMF Warns About Regional Implications of Sudanese Conflict
The International Monetary Fund’s deputy director for Africa said reverberations from the conflict in Sudan have worsened migration, trade, and security issues in already fragile neighboring states; conditions in South Sudan are especially volatile in the aftermath of a major oil pipeline failure which accounted for 90 percent of the country’s exports (VOA)
Uncertainty Remains Over Origin of RSF Downed Plane
Recovered documents from the crash scene suggest ties to Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and the United Arab Emirates; Kyrgyzstan claims that the plane’s registration had been transferred to the Sudanese government in January 2024, however earlier reports suggest that the plane had been used by the UAE in a 2024 initiative to rearm the RSF (AP)