♦ 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.

Radio Dabanga Editor in Chief: ‘Sudan has become a forgotten country’
 
14/08/2025 – AMSTERDAM. Reporters from the Netherlands national radio station NPO Radio 1 visited the studios of Radio Dabanga in Amsterdam to interview Editor in Chief Kamal Elsadig and ask other journalists and presenters about the situation in Sudan.
 
Elsadig told Nieuws en Co: “There were about 3,000 journalists in Sudan, but 2,000 have fled to neighbouring countries… that is why you do not hear [more news] about Sudan, and that is why Sudan has become a forgotten country.” He also highlighted how millions of displaced people in conflict and marginalised areas rely on Radio Dabanga’s daily shortwave and satellite broadcasts for reliable, independent news, whilst internet access is curtailed across Sudan.

Surviving on ambaz in North Darfur – when animal fodder becomes food for people
 
04/08/2025 – EL FASHER. In one of the besieged neighbourhoods of El Fasher, Nafisa sits on the ground in front of a clay stove (kanun) with a boiling pot on top of it. She slowly stirs it, trying to turn it into something resembling porridge. Her little daughter watches her with eyes sunken with hunger, asking: “Mama, is this the cow’s food?” The mother sighs and whispers: “Now it’s our food… God help us.” It’s ambaz, a byproduct of peanut production usually used as animal fodder, which has become a staple meal for Nafisa, her children, and most of El Fasher’s residents after the siege consumed everything, leaving only hunger gnawing at the stomachs of the young and old of the city. The governor of North Darfur warned that the humanitarian and living conditions in the city have become unbearable.

A government initiative for the return of the Sudanese press – An attempt to revive or a plan to domesticate the media?
17/08/2025 – KHARTOUM. As a result of the war that has erupted between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 15, 2023, more than 20 newspapers in Sudan have stopped publication, plunging the country into a dark information darkness and obscuring from the world the truth of what is happening in Sudan.

UN rights chief outraged by RSF attack on El Fasher
16/08/2025 – EL FASHER / NEW YORK. The United Nations  High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned a large-scale attack by the paramilitary RSF on North Darfur’s capital El Fasher and the nearby Abu Shouk Camp for displaced people, which left at least 57 civilians dead.
 
RSF launches consecutive assaults on North Darfur camp
13/08/2025 – EL FASHER / ABU SHOUK CAMP / LAFAT TARQ / NAIVASHA. The RSF have intensified their offensive on the besieged city of El Fasher, North Darfur, launching violent assaults that left dozens dead and drew strong international condemnation.
 
UN warns of famine as Darfur Union UK accuses RSF of ‘genocidal siege’
12/08/2025 – NEW YORK / LONDON / EL FASHER. The UN has warned of famine, mass killings, and a fast-spreading cholera outbreak in Sudan, saying civilians face “a deepening crisis”. The warning came as the Darfur Union in the United Kingdom accused the paramilitary RSF and allied factions of committing “genocide” in El Fasher, during their 227th failed attempt to seize the city.
 
Sudanese youth uphold the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amid the war in Sudan
12/08/2025 – SUDAN. In war-torn Sudan, where more than 11.3 million people are displaced and over 72 per cent of health facilities in conflict areas are no longer functioning, young Sudanese are keeping the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alive against the odds.
 
Darfur: RSF deny Sudan army claims of Nyala Airport attack ‘killing Colombian mercenaries’
10/08/2025 – NYALA / KHARTOUM. Sudan’s RSF have denied claims by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) that they “destroyed an Emirati aircraft carrying Colombian mercenaries and military equipment destined for the RSF” as it landed in South Darfur capital Nyala. The claims were also previously refuted by an Emirati source.
 
On World Day of Indigenous Peoples, Sudanese struggle between margins and massacres
09/08/2025 – AMSTERDAM. As the world marks the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement crisis. Groups such as the Masalit, Fur, Zaghawa, Nuba, and Beja, long subjected to structural marginalisation, now face escalating displacement, loss of heritage, and restricted access to basic rights.
 
De Volkskrant: ‘Radio Dabanga’s broadcasts can mean the difference between life and death…’
06/08/2025 – AMSTERDAM. The war in Sudan is often referred to as a “forgotten conflict.” A news feature in Amsterdam-based newspaper De Volkskrant highlights how Radio Dabanga is “a beacon” for millions in Sudan, where access to independent news is “a matter of life and death”.
 
Tragedy of North Darfur’s Umm Keddada: ‘The RSF killed our only doctor’
05/08/2025 – UMM KEDDADA. Since the outbreak of the war in Sudan, thousands of horrific stories continue to emerge from areas affected by military operations, which are witnessing gross violations by the SAF and the RSF, with Darfur being the worst affected.