♦ Sudan news highlights ♦

A compact digest of the past weeks’ most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this regular digest in your inbox.

Ethiopian intel. chief visits Port Sudan

03/06/2025 – PORT SUDAN / ADDIS ABABA. Director General of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service Redwan Hussein and the Prime Minister’s Advisor on East African Affairs Getachew Reda visited Commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan in Port Sudan.

Ethiopian media covered the visit extensively, while Sudanese state outlets remained silent. The trip comes amid rising tensions over Nile water rights and Ethiopia’s perceived alignment with hostile groups, including a recent meeting between Prime Minister Ahmed and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti).

Sudanese doctors decry US travel ban
 
11/06/2025 – WASHINGTON D.C. / PORT SUDAN. Sudanese doctors and other groups have raised alarm after the newly implemented US travel ban, signed by President Donald Trump, came into effect on June 9, barring Sudanese nationals from entering the United States.
 
The Sudanese American Physicians Association warned that the ban threatens the futures of 80 recent medical graduates from Sudan, who were due to begin residency and fellowship training programmes in the USA. The African Union (AU) Commission also weighed in by expressing concern over the sweeping restrictions, whilst the New York City Bar Association called for urgent international action to address the ‘genocide and spiralling humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur’.

Sudan’s children in crisis on World Day Against Child Labour
12/06/2025 – GENEVA / KHARTOUM. As World Day Against Child Labour is observed globally today, Sudan continues to face one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises and child labour is on the rise. The 2025 theme for World Day Against Child Labour, ‘Let’s act on our commitments’, resonates clearly in the Sudanese context.
 
Cholera spreads across Sudan as cases surge in Darfur and Sennar
09/06/2025 – EL GENEINA / SENNAR. Health officials in West Darfur have confirmed six cholera cases in El Geneina, including two deaths, amid mounting concerns that the actual toll is far higher. Cases are on the rise in various regions across the country, especially in Sennar.
 
Protests erupt in northern Sudan over power cuts
05/06/2025 – WADI HALFA. Hundreds of residents in Wadi Halfa, Northern State, have blocked all major entrances to the town in protest against scheduled power outages.
 
At least 89 killed in Sudanese army airstrike on North Darfur town
02/06/2025 – EL KOMA / EL FASHER / PORT SUDAN / NYALA / ZALINGEI. At least 89 people were killed and wounded in the town of El Koma in North Darfur, following an aerial bombardment reportedly carried out by SAF warplanes, on Sunday. The El Koma Emergency Room confirmed the toll in a statement and shared the names of five civilian victims.
 
Former AU and UN envoy: ‘Only Sudanese Can Save Sudan’
30/05/2025 – JEDDAH / ADDIS ABABA / GENEVA. Former African Union and United Nations official Abdul Mohammed has urged the Sudanese people to take ownership of their country’s path to peace, warning that international mediation alone cannot resolve the devastating war.
 
RSF reclaims towns in Kordofan’, conflict and displacement surge across Sudan
29/05/2025 – EL DABIBAT / EL KHAWI / HIBAN LOCALITY / EL FASHER / ABU SHOUK CAMP. The RSF say they have seized full control of El Dabibat in South Kordofan after launching drone strikes and ground attacks. The group also claimed to have taken El Khawi in neighbouring West Kordofan.
 
‘Sudanese refugee girls raped in Chad’ as Darfur crisis deepens
26/05/2025 – KOUNONGOU CAMP. Reports indicate that two young Sudanese girls were raped after leaving Kounongou refugee camp in eastern Chad, near West Darfur, exposing the worsening dangers faced by displaced communities as violence and deprivation spread across the region.
 
Farmers battle war’s economic scars to revive central Sudan farmlands
25/05/2025 – WAD MADANI. In central Sudan, farmer Omar Qouz is preparing for his first planting season since conflict erupted, battling fears of failure as he and thousands of others in Sennar and El Gezira states face collapsed irrigation, halted funding, and a severe lack of farm equipment.
 
US accuses Sudan govt of chemical weapons use and announces sanctions
23/05/2025 – WASHINGTON D.C. / PORT SUDAN. The USA has formally accused Sudan’s government of using chemical weapons during its ongoing war with the paramilitary RSF, in what it says is a clear breach of international law. In a statement issued on Thursday, the USA State Department said sanctions will follow, citing evidence of chemical weapons use in 2024.
 
AU’s support for new Sudan PM sparks uproar among political and armed groups
22/05/2025 – PORT SUDAN / ADDIS ABABA. The AU’s cautious endorsement of Dr Kamil El Tayeb Idris as Sudan’s newly appointed civilian Prime Minister has been met with mixed reactions, drawing both applause and condemnation across Sudan’s political and military spectrum.