On May 14, 2026, Sara Ahmed, a volunteer with the emergency response rooms in Dillinj, died from injuries she sustained during shelling of the city two days earlier. She was transferred to Kadugli Hospital because most health facilities in Dillinj have been out of service for months. That same day, her colleague Ali Aobrahim was also killed while volunteering. Shelling by RSF and SPLM-N forces on Dillinj on May 11 and 12 killed more than 15 people, including five women. An attack on Dillinj market also killed Qisma Hussain, a tea seller, while she was working. The targeting of civilian areas by RSF and SPLM-N forces has made life unbearable for those still trapped in Dillinj, with few safe options to leave.
The loss of local responders in South Kordofan is devastating. These volunteers work in dangerous conditions, often with little protection or support, to save lives where international aid agencies cannot reach. Every day, they choose to remain in high-risk areas so their communities can access the limited aid available. The humanitarian community in Sudan and around the world must honor their courage and take urgent action to protect them.
After two months of near-daily shelling and drone attacks by RSF and SPLM-N forces, the situation in Dillinj, Habila, and nearby areas remains catastrophic. Access to food, healthcare, and other essential services is severely limited by the siege and blocked roads. The only open road leads to Kadugli, yet Kadugli also depends on supplies passing through Dillinj. As a result, shortages in Dillinj are worsening conditions in Kadugli as well. Humanitarian conditions across South Kordofan are deteriorating as fighting spreads to nearby areas. Soaring prices and restrictions on the movement of people and goods have driven child hunger to extreme levels.
In areas controlled by the SPLM-N, violence earlier this month against members of the Aturo tribe killed dozens of civilians and forced hundreds to flee to nearby mountains without food or medical assistance. Nuba peace activist and women’s rights defender Nagwa Konda has been detained by SPLM-N forces in Kauda since early April 2026, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Nagwa is a prominent activist who has spent decades defending the rights of women and people in the Nuba Mountains. She has now been held for more than a month without clear charges or access to her family or colleagues.
The unrest in SPLM-N-controlled areas is deeply concerning and could trigger broader displacement across the region, as these areas host thousands of people displaced from other parts of South Kordofan. They also serve as the main route for people fleeing conflict zones such as Dillinj to South Sudan and to central Sudan, including White Nile State and Khartoum.
Recommendations
- The international community should press all parties to the conflict to immediately stop attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including markets, health facilities, water systems, and residential areas, and to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.
- All parties should ensure rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access to South Kordofan, including through sustained cross-line and cross-border routes, and remove administrative and security obstacles that prevent aid, medical supplies, and commercial goods from reaching civilians.
- Donors, UN agencies, and international NGOs should increase direct, flexible support to local responders and community-based aid networks, including emergency response rooms, and provide them with protective equipment, communications support, trauma care, and resources to continue life-saving work safely.
- States with influence over the parties should publicly and privately demand an end to indiscriminate shelling, drone strikes, arbitrary detention, and other abuses against civilians and aid workers, and should support independent monitoring and documentation of violations.
- Relevant authorities should immediately disclose the whereabouts of detained activist Nagwa Konda, ensure her safety, grant her access to family and legal support, and release her unless she is promptly charged in accordance with international standards.
- Humanitarian actors and neighboring governments should strengthen protection and reception arrangements along displacement routes to South Sudan and central Sudan so civilians fleeing South Kordofan can move safely and access food, shelter, health care, and protection services.
- Donors should urgently scale up funding for food assistance, health care, nutrition, protection, and logistics in South Kordofan, recognizing that siege-like conditions, rising prices, and restricted movement are sharply increasing hunger and humanitarian needs.
