Mass atrocities in Kordofan, the seizure of a key oilfield, and a “crime scene” in el-Fasher mark a lethal month as worldwide funding dries up.
Printed On 31 Dec 2025
The brutal battle in Sudan, now deep into its third 12 months, has shifted its centre of gravity to the strategic central area of Kordofan from Darfur, threatening to separate the nation in two.
December noticed the paramilitary Speedy Assist Forces (RSF) increase its offensive, seizing important oil infrastructure and laying siege to key cities, whereas the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) intensified aerial campaigns.
Humanitarian situations hit a brand new nadir because the United Nations warned of a “survival mode” operations plan as a result of extreme funding cuts, leaving thousands and thousands vulnerable to hunger in 2026.
Listed below are the important thing battlefield, humanitarian, and political developments for December 2025.
Combating and navy management
- Battle for oil and the South Sudan deal: On December 8, the RSF seized the strategic Heglig oilfield – Sudan’s largest – in West Kordofan. Following a lethal drone assault on the power, a tripartite settlement involving SAF, RSF, and Juba noticed South Sudanese troops deploy to safe the sphere and neutralise it from fight.
- Kordofan as the brand new epicentre: Violence surged throughout Kordofan. The RSF claimed management of Babnusa, the gateway to West Kordofan, although the military denied the full fall of town. In the meantime, the RSF maintained “hermetic sieges” on Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan, whereas pushing in direction of the strategic North Kordofan capital, el-Obeid.
- Escalation of drone warfare: Drones have been used extensively by each side with devastating impact. A strike on the Atbara energy plant in River Nile state plunged main cities, together with Port Sudan, into darkness. In Kalogi, South Kordofan, a drone assault on a preschool and hospital killed a minimum of 116 folks, together with 46 youngsters.
- Assaults on UN Peacekeepers: On December 13, a drone assault hit a UN logistics base in Kadugli, killing six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and wounding eight others. UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres condemned the assault, stating it could represent a battle crime.
- El-Fasher a “crime scene”: A UN group gained entry to el-Fasher for the primary time since its fall in October, describing the largely abandoned metropolis as a “crime scene“. A report by the Yale Humanitarian Analysis Lab documented a scientific RSF marketing campaign to burn our bodies and destroy proof of mass killings.
- Navy airplane crash: An Ilyushin Il-76 navy transport airplane crashed at Port Sudan’s Osman Digna airbase as a result of a technical malfunction, killing all the crew.
Humanitarian disaster
- Support funding collapse: The UN introduced it has been pressured to halve its 2026 enchantment to $23bn as a result of donor fatigue. Consequently, the World Meals Programme (WFP) warned it should lower meals rations by 70 % beginning in January, affecting communities already going through famine.
- Sudan tops emergency listing: The Worldwide Rescue Committee (IRC) positioned Sudan on the high of its Emergency Watchlist for 2026, citing the convergence of battle, financial collapse, and shrinking worldwide help.
- Systematic sexual violence: A report by the Strategic Initiative for Ladies within the Horn of Africa (SIHA) documented practically 1,300 instances of sexual violence, attributing 87 % of them to the RSF. The report detailed how rape is getting used as a weapon of battle, notably in opposition to non-Arab teams.
- Well being disaster: Malnutrition charges have skyrocketed, with UNICEF reporting that 53 % of kids screened in North Darfur are acutely malnourished. In Khartoum, a survey discovered 97 % of households face meals shortages, as authorities started exhuming makeshift graves in residential areas to maneuver our bodies to official cemeteries.
- EU Air Bridge: The European Union launched an “air bridge” operation to ship life-saving provides to Darfur, describing the state of affairs there as “one of many world’s hardest locations to achieve”.
Diplomacy and political developments
- Impasse on the UN: Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris introduced a peace plan to the UN Safety Council proposing an RSF withdrawal and disarmament. The RSF rejected the proposal as “wishful pondering” and “fantasy”.
- Al-Burhan rejects compromise: Talking from Turkiye, SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dominated out negotiations, insisting the battle would solely finish with the RSF’s “give up” and disarmament.
- Civilian “Third Pole”: In Nairobi, civilian leaders, together with former PM Abdalla Hamdok and insurgent chief Abdelwahid al-Nur, signed a declaration forming a brand new antiwar bloc, trying to reclaim political company from the warring generals.
- US stress and sanctions: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio intensified diplomatic efforts, stating President Donald Trump is personally concerned. The US Treasury sanctioned 4 Colombian nationals and corporations for recruiting mercenaries to battle for the RSF.
- ICC Conviction: In a historic verdict, the Worldwide Felony Courtroom sentenced former Fashionable Defence Forces (Janjaweed) chief Ali Kushayb to twenty years in jail for battle crimes dedicated in Darfur (2003-2004), the primary such conviction for the area.
