♦ Sudan news highlights ♦

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

Eid Mubarak

19/03/2026 – DABANGA SUDAN. The Dabanga team wishes our listeners, readers, viewers, and all Muslims in the world a blessed Eid El Fitr.

Our hearts and thoughts are with the people in Sudan, hoping for a speedy end to the violence and bloodshed, and for peace to prevail.

Dozens killed in drone strikes on markets in Kordofan and East Darfur

08/03/2026 18:42 ABU ZABAD / ED DAEIN / DAR EL SALAAM / ABU KARINKA / EL FULA / DELLING. At least 34 people were killed and 63 injured when drone strikes hit the town of Abu Zabad in West Kordofan, according to the Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasees), which is aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Most of the victims were women and children.

Tasees spokesperson Alaa Nugud condemned the attacks and said targeting unarmed civilians in towns, villages, and displacement camps with drones constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Chad shuts Sudan border after drone strike kills civilians in El Tina
19/03/2026 – EL TINA / N’DJAMENA / MABROUKA. Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby has ordered the immediate closure of Chad’s 1,300-kilometre border with Sudan and placed the military on maximum alert following a deadly drone strike on a border town.
 
SAF confirms loss of Bara as fighting escalates across Sudan
17/03/2026 – BARA / EL OBEID / KARNOI / EL TINA / DELLING. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have confirmed that the paramilitary RSF have taken control of Bara in North Kordofan, saying their troops withdrew from the city after what they described as a “heroic battle”.
 
UNHCR: 76% of Sudanese refugee children in Chad out of school
15/03/2026 – ADRÉ, EASTERN CHAD. More than three-quarters of Sudanese refugee families in Chad say their children have dropped out of school since fleeing the conflict, a new survey by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) found, highlighting the scale of the disruption to education.
 
Drone strikes hit West Darfur fuel market, shelling resumes in South Kordofan as Sudan fighting intensifies
12/03/2026 – EL GENEINA / DLLING. Drone strikes and artillery bombardment were reported in several parts of western and southern Sudan, as fighting between rival forces continued to threaten civilian areas and key supply routes.
 
Sudan war: 52 killed in West Kordofan drone convoy carnage
11/03/2026 – EL FULA. At least 52 people were killed, including 17 or more women from the same family, when a drone, allegedly launched by the SAF, targeted a convoy of two vehicles carrying mostly women and children from the As Sunaytah area south of Abu Zabad, to El Fula in West Kordofan. Witnesses say that the party was on their way to offer condolences to the families of victims of an earlier drone strike.
 
Op-ed: Sudanese women give birth to life twice
09/03/2026 – AMSTERDAM. By Dr Elshafie Khidir Saeid. Each year, on International Women’s Day, the world pauses to celebrate women. Yet in Sudan, this day arrives under the shadow of devastation and war. The occasion therefore acquires a different meaning. Rather than a moment of ceremonial celebration, it becomes an invitation to reflect on the extraordinary resilience of Sudanese women—women whose bodies have too often been turned into arenas of conflict, yet whose spirits continue to stand as symbols of defiance and endurance.
 
STPT: Drugs – an illicit economy fuelling Sudan war
08/03/2026 – AMSTERDAM. Production capacity for synthetic drugs has expanded dramatically under cover of the ‘fog of war’ in Sudan. This is a signal of Sudan’s integration into a broader economy in the wake of the December 2024 collapse of Syria’s state-sponsored Captagon industry, a new report by the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker (STPT) asserts.
 
War in the Middle East: Warnings of serious economic impacts on Sudan 
04/03/2026 17:02 AMSTERDAM. As the war between the United States and Israel against Iran continues, and in light of Iranian attacks on the Gulf states and other Arab states, concerns are mounting about the potential economic effects on Sudan.
 
167 killed, scores injured in attack north of Abyei in disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan
03/03/2026 – ABYEI. At least 167 people were killed, 68 injured, and 10 reported missing after an armed attack by an unidentified group on Abiemnom, about 40 kilometres north of the town of Abyei in the disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan.