Conflict and drought are worsening food insecurity across parts of Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan regions, a global food crisis monitor warned on Monday. There is a “deteriorating humanitarian situation” across greater Darfur and Kordofan, including areas identified as at risk of famine, as well as other locations, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC. Severe drought linked to El Niño is affecting more than half of Sudan, causing localized crop failures and depriving households of food and income, it said. In May, nearly 19.5 million people — more than 40% of the population — were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to an IPC assessment. Of those, 135,000 were in Phase 5, the most severe classification, characterized by extreme food shortages, starvation, very high levels of malnutrition and deaths from disease or acute malnutrition. AP

As the December elections approach, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have called on South Sudan to strengthen coordination and early response mechanisms to counter hate speech and disinformation, warning that harmful narratives could threaten peace, social cohesion and preparations for elections. The call was made on Tuesday during the launch of a three-day workshop to establish a national multi-agency coordination platform to address hate speech and disinformation in the country. Beleteze Foretia, representative of the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, said inflammatory rhetoric, rumors and deliberately misleading information could undermine trust between communities and contribute to political and security instability. … He said the proposed platform should prioritize early identification of harmful narratives, coordinated preventive action and stronger links with existing early warning and response mechanisms. Radio Tamazuj

Somalia’s Supreme Court has accepted a lawsuit challenging the implementation of the country’s new constitution and legal measures arising from it, including extensions of government institutions’ terms, according to reports. The case was filed by a senior member of the Somali Salvation Council, an opposition grouping that has challenged the constitutional changes and the process through which they were adopted. … The lawsuit challenges the legality of the new constitution and decisions based on it. A central issue is the extension of the terms of government institutions, which opposition figures argue raises legal questions about the country’s governance and electoral timetable. Garowe Online

Drone strikes and explosions have killed scores of civilians and injured dozens across Sudan, as attacks on displacement shelters and residential neighbourhoods in Blue Nile and North Kordofan coincide with deadly mine blasts in West Kordofan and renewed armed violence in South Darfur. In Blue Nile, the regional government reported that 30 civilians were killed on Friday morning when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a drone attack on a displacement shelter in Abu Shandi, a village in Wad El Mahi locality. … In North Kordofan, an RSF drone attack on El Obeid on Friday morning injured six civilians, who were taken for treatment. … In West Kordofan, four displaced people were killed earlier this week when an unexploded landmine detonated in Babanusa, bringing the reported mine-related death toll in the city to about 35. … In a separate incident in South Darfur, 11 people were killed in armed clashes in Wad El Fursan on Thursday evening following a dispute between an RSF force and a motorcycle trader. Dabanga