🇸🇩Week of November 2

Brigadier Haroun Mursal, known as Abu Tukka, commander of operations for the Joint Force allied with the Sudanese army in the Kordofan axis, was killed in fighting at Umm Shaeira in North Kordofan state, the Joint Force announced on Tuesday. The clashes between the Sudanese army and its allied armed movements on one side and the Rapid Support Forces on the other resumed on Monday across areas of North and West Kordofan states.12

Darfur24 reported that three senior Joint Force officers were killed and that Major General Muneir Hamed Malounq, chief of staff of the Sudan Liberation Forces Gathering, was seriously wounded in battles fought on Monday west of Al-Mazroub in North Darfur. The dead included Brigadier Haroun Abu Tukki, operations commander of the Sudan Liberation Forces Gathering, according to military sources.3

Tag Press reported the death of Rapid Support Forces field commander Mohamed Taher Banat in fighting in the Kazqil area of North Kordofan, and said combat fronts across the Kordofan region are seeing mounting military escalation as both sides seek to strengthen their positions and control strategic areas and supply lines.4

In North Kordofan, two women were killed and 10 other people were injured on Wednesday when a Sudanese army warplane struck a water source in the Umm Badr area, Sudan Tribune reported. Witnesses told Darfur24 that two people were killed and others injured on Sunday evening when a drone believed to belong to the Sudanese army struck a Land Cruiser vehicle near Umm Badr.56

Separate violence was reported elsewhere in the region: a farmer was shot dead by an armed herder in the Nina area of Kutum locality in North Darfur after cattle entered his farm, and a man and a woman were killed in an armed robbery on a farm east of Kartala in South Kordofan.78

Sudan's technical committees for the ministerial sectors met on Wednesday to discuss the guidelines, features and general objectives of the 2027 fiscal year budget. The plan includes continued funding of the war effort, attention to infrastructure and reconstruction, and strengthening growth and economic recovery. The joint meeting was chaired by Ali Mohamed Ali, secretary-general of the Council of Ministers, and the finance ministry's undersecretary, Mohamed Ali, presented the ministry's contribution.1

Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim said the 2027 budget aims to carry out economic and social reform programmes and to continue recovery and reconstruction efforts. He said it also adopts social protection programmes meant to improve citizens' living conditions, provide basic services and address the situation of displaced people and refugees.2

A joint meeting of the ministerial sectors, chaired by Defence Minister Lt. Gen. Hassan Daoud Kabroun, reviewed the budget's guidelines and objectives, presented by Jibril Ibrahim. The finance minister said the budget targets economic and social reform, recovery and reconstruction, and social protection programmes.3

The 2027 budget guidelines keep funding for the war effort alongside infrastructure and reconstruction spending, with growth and economic recovery listed among the objectives. The finance minister tied the plan to social protection and services for displaced people and refugees.124

Fighting broke out on Thursday between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in areas west and southwest of El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state, with conflicting accounts of who controls four strategic areas. The army and allied forces made ground gains on the western and southern axes of the city after heavy battles, seizing a number of strategic areas.12

The Joint Force of the armed struggle movements said it carried out wide military operations on the North Kordofan axis on Thursday morning that freed four areas: Umm Sumaima, Kazqil, Hamadi and Abu Qu'ud. Its official spokesman, Major Mutawakil Ali Wakil Abu Jokha, said in a statement that the operations inflicted heavy losses on Rapid Support Forces in lives and equipment. Field sources said the Sudanese army retook control of Kazqil and Abu Qu'ud in North Kordofan after military operations in the area.34

Attributed claim: Darfur24 reported conflicting accounts over control of the four strategic areas west and southwest of El Obeid, while Sudan Tribune reported that the army and its allied forces took a number of strategic areas on the city's western and southern axes. The two accounts agree the battles were heavy and centered on the same axes; they differ on whether control of the four areas is settled.12

Elsewhere, a Sudanese army source told Al Jazeera that air defences intercepted drones that tried to target the town of Khashm El Girba in Kassala state in eastern Sudan. The incident came as drone attacks escalated in a number of Sudanese states, with recent strikes on vital sites and facilities as fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces continued and the scope of military operations widened.5

Egypt's military spokesman, Ahmed Othman, said two Egyptian army officers were killed during a military campaign targeting what he described as illegal gold prospecting on the southern border with Sudan. He named them at a press conference as Colonel Ahmed Samir, chief of staff of the border guard of the southern region, and a lieutenant colonel.6

Australia's government announced on Thursday financial sanctions and travel bans on four Sudanese nationals, along with financial sanctions on the al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion. Canberra said the measures respond to what it described as grave human rights violations linked to the war in Sudan.12

The list includes the army commander-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti). The sanctions cover both leaders of the warring sides.12

The al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion was named for financial sanctions only, while the four individuals face both asset freezes and travel bans. The Australian government did not identify the other two sanctioned Sudanese nationals in the cited reports.12

Sudan's Teachers' Committee said two of its members in the Ambada locality of Khartoum state were summoned by the security cell. The committee named the two as al-Nayir al-Turaifi Hamad al-Nil and Mohamed Adam, and said Adam is unwell.123

The summons came as the teachers' strike continued into its second day of the third week. The committee announced the summons in a press statement on Thursday.123

The Sudan Doctors' Network said on Wednesday that Rapid Support Forces are holding dozens of professional staff in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. The network said it is gravely concerned about the conditions of their detention, their safety and their humanitarian situation.1

The network put the number held at 135 medical and academic staff: 47 workers in the medical sector and 88 teachers and university professors. It said in a statement that the detainees are being held inside a number of locations in the city.2

The statement repeated the network's concern over the detainees' humanitarian conditions and its fears for their safety.2

Rapid Support Forces drones attacked Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state, from the night of Tuesday until dawn on Wednesday, in what was described as the largest attack of its kind on the city. Military sources said the drones hit military headquarters and civilian buildings in Blue Nile state. The government authorities of Blue Nile state issued no information about the sites the drones struck.12

Army air defences confronted the drones during the hours of the attack, according to circulating information. The governor of Blue Nile state said the air defences thwarted a wide attack on Damazin, and Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed reported that the governor survived the drone attack.234

The attack was part of a wider wave of drone strikes that hit Khartoum and other Sudanese cities, extending beyond Blue Nile state.5

Sudan's Ministry of Health said it detected vaccine-derived poliovirus in the environment in several states: Red Sea, west and central Darfur, Kassala and White Nile. The ministry announced new vaccination campaigns targeting Darfur and West Kordofan during November.1

Dr. Ismail al-Adani, acting director-general of primary health care, gave the details at a briefing conference. The detection followed the virus's appearance in five Sudanese states.1

Separately, the federal emergency operations center at the Health Ministry met under acting undersecretary and emergency and epidemic control director-general Muntasir Mohamed Othman to review epidemic conditions and health interventions in the states. Othman directed intensified health interventions in Sennar state because of dense Anopheles mosquito breeding, along with urgent intervention against cholera cases.2

The ministry also warned of the spread of cholera and dengue fever and directed urgent interventions in a number of Sudanese states.2

The Sudanese Journalists' Syndicate has documented 673 violations against journalists since the outbreak of war in Sudan. The syndicate called for an end to impunity for the attacks.1

Sudan's Women Journalists Network warned of escalating violations and crimes against journalists in the country. The network said Sudanese women journalists' voices and pens deserve protection, redress and justice.2

Drone attacks across Sudan killed at least 14 civilians and injured several others, and crippled the country's power infrastructure. The United Nations warned of a growing humanitarian toll from the strikes.3

Sudan's government accused Ethiopia of allowing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to use its territory for drone attacks, and analysts questioned the government's complaint to the United Nations.4