Sudan’s civil battle noticed numerous developments on the battlefield in addition to in diplomacy and the humanitarian disaster.
Printed On 31 Aug 2025
Sudan’s civil battle between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the Speedy Help Forces (RSF) paramilitary has produced the biggest humanitarian disaster on the planet.
Estimates recommended tens of hundreds of individuals have died from fight and hundreds extra have perished from illness and starvation introduced on by the battle, now nicely into its third 12 months.
There have been many important navy and political developments this month. Listed here are the important thing updates:
Preventing and navy management
- The SAF is consolidating its management over the capital, Khartoum, which it took from the RSF in March. It additionally holds the central and japanese areas of Sudan, together with its wartime capital of Port Sudan on the Pink Sea.
- The RSF controls many of the sprawling western area of Darfur and far of the Kordofan area to the south.
- The RSF continues to besiege North Darfur’s capital, el-Fasher, the place the SAF has its final Darfur garrison. If el-Fasher falls, the RSF will rule over a stretch of land roughly the scale of France in western Sudan.
- The RSF has escalated assaults on el-Fasher and on close by displacement camps, together with the Abu Shouk camp, the place 190,000 individuals from round Darfur have sought shelter.
- It has additionally erected huge sand berms round el-Fasher from the north, west and east, successfully making a “kill-box,” in keeping with latest satellite tv for pc imagery obtained by the Yale Humanitarian Analysis Hub.
- The RSF is working to broaden its management in Kordofan by working with a brand new ally, the Sudan Folks’s Liberation Motion-North (SPLM-N), headed by Abdelaziz al-Hilu. The 2 allied in February to counter the SAF on the battlefield.
- With the assistance of the SPLM-N, the RSF retains management over most of West and South Kordofan, giving them cross-border entry to South Sudan.
- SAF controls essentially the most strategic metropolis in North Kordofan, el-Obeid, which the RSF is besieging. The SAF wants to carry onto el-Obeid to maintain the RSF from threatening central Sudan.

Humanitarian disaster
- The RSF has trapped an estimated 260,000 civilians, together with 130,000 youngsters, in el-Fasher, turning town into an “epicentre of kid struggling”, in keeping with UNICEF.
- Most are surviving on animal fodder generally known as ambaz – the residue of pressed oil seeds, similar to peanuts, sesame, and sunflower – which they grind right into a paste; nevertheless, even that is operating low.
- About one-third of the kids in Mellit, a metropolis the RSF controls close to el-Fasher, are severely malnourished, in keeping with figures obtained by Reduction Worldwide and shared with Al Jazeera. That’s greater than double the World Well being Group’s threshold for a malnutrition emergency.
- A cholera outbreak is compounding the humanitarian disaster throughout the huge area of Darfur, in keeping with Adam Rojal, internally displaced individuals spokesperson in Darfur. On August 30, he stated the water-borne illness killed 9 folks that day and contaminated a complete of 9,143 individuals, with 382 deaths, for the reason that epidemic first began in June 2025.
- Meals convoys from the United Nations and different nongovernmental organisations not often attain the uncared for area of Darfur attributable to highway closures and bureaucratic impediments. Human rights teams and native activists accuse each side of weaponising meals.
- The World Meals Programme informed Al Jazeera that it gives digital money help to weak individuals in North Darfur, however no meals convoys have reached the area for greater than a 12 months.
- A UN meals convoy was hit by a drone strike in North Darfur on Friday, the second assist convoy in three months to be focused. The RSF and SAF traded blame for the assault.
- There’s a comparable starvation emergency in South Kordofan attributable to an RSF siege on the cities of Dilling and Kadugli.
Diplomacy and political developments
- RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo was reportedly sworn in as president of the parallel “Peace authorities” on August 31 in South Darfur’s capital, Nyala. SAF hit town with a drone strike on the identical day.
- A secret assembly reportedly happened in Switzerland between SAF Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a United States adviser in mid-August, ostensibly to debate a plan to finish the battle, in keeping with Sudan consultants and media retailers. The US has not confirmed the talks.
- Every week after the key assembly, al-Burhan retired a number of senior navy officers, a few of whom reportedly belong to Sudan’s political Islamist motion, which dominated the nation for 30 years with former President Omar al-Bashir on the helm. Specialists imagine al-Burhan is below exterior strain to dilute the affect of distinguished figures tied to the al-Bashir authorities.
