No. 724 – 30 April 2026
Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection, and resilience in the Horn of Africa. EEPA has published extensively on issues related to the movement and/or human trafficking of refugees in the Horn of Africa and on the Central Mediterranean Route. It cooperates with a wide network of universities, research organisations, civil society, and experts from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and across Africa. The Situation Reports can be found here. To receive the situation report in your e-mail, click here. You can unsubscribe at any moment through the link at the bottom of each e-mail.
Situation in Sudan (per 30 April)
- A drone strike destroyed a UNHCR aid truck carrying emergency shelter kits to Tawila, North Darfur, leaving 1,314 displaced families without shelter, as UNHCR condemned the attack and expressed deep concern over the rising use of drones against humanitarian operation.
- Over 2,400 people including 20 doctors, 370 women, and 426 children are being reportedly held in dire conditions across multiple RSF detention facilities in El Fasher, North Darfur, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
- Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in RSF-controlled El Fasher, where food shortages and violence persist following a siege that a UN investigation described to bear the “hallmarks of genocide”.
- A measles outbreak in Labado, East Darfur, has killed approximately 70 people and infected around 1,000 others across 12 neighborhoods since March, with community coordinators attributing the spread to the collapse of medical services and absence of vaccines.
- A Sudanese army drone strike on the Hamidiya camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Zalingei, Central Darfur, injured at least 15 IDPs and destroyed several homes, as the Displaced Persons Coordination accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of targeting civilian areas.
- RSF drone strikes on residential neighborhoods in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, killed at least seven civilians and wounded 22 others.
- The SAF repelled an RSF and Sudan’s People Liberation Movement-North attack in the Blue Nile region’s Sali area, claiming to have seized 10 combat vehicles and destroyed 15 others.
- SAF chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan repeatedly ruled out negotiations with the RSF, vowing to continue military operations until the country is fully cleared.
- Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health, with WHO and UNICEF support, launched a polio vaccination campaign targeting over 4.3 million children under five across seven states.
Situation in Ethiopia (per 30 April)
- Over 200 Ethiopian youths detained at Khamis Mushait prison in Saudi Arabia face death after being sentenced in a mass ruling, warned Tigray’s Youth Affairs Bureau, calling on Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry to intervene diplomatically.
- Death sentences were reportedly done for drug-related offences without proper legal representation.
- Three Ethiopian migrants were already executed by the Saudi authorities on 21 April, reports Human Rights Watch, with others being in imminent risk of execution.
- Tigray’s ambulance service has completely collapsed due to a fuel cutoff since January 2026, with health officials warning of preventable deaths among mothers and critically ill patients forced to hire private transport at costs of up to 50,000 Birr or give birth at home without medical assistance.
- The TPLF’s spokesman, Michael Asgedom, urged the President of Tigray Interim Regional Administration, Tadesse Werede, to hand over his position, doubling down on the previous TPLF decision to reinstate the pre-war status quo.
- A Tigray opposition Salsay Weyane Tigray condemned the TPLF’s statements, calling it an “irresponsible act” which should be stopped immediately.
International and regional situation (per 30 April)
- The UN Security Council unanimously sanctioned four individuals for fueling Sudan’s conflict, including Algoney Hamdan Dagalo, brother of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), for weapons procurement.
- The sanctions also targeted three Colombian nationals accused of recruiting and deploying mercenaries to fight alongside the RSF in Khartoum, Kordofan, and El Fasher, including training children for combat.
- A passenger plane crashed approximately 20km southwest of Juba, South Sudan, shortly after takeoff from Yei, killing all 14 people on board including the pilot, 12 South Sudanese and two Kenyan passengers.
- A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation assessment found Sudan’s 2025 cereal production declined by 22% compared to the previous year and 19% below the five-year average, with sorghum down 25% and millet 46% below average, as 61.7% of Sudan’s population face acute food insecurity.
- The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projected that 56% of South Sudan’s population faces high levels of acute food insecurity between April and July 2026, with 73,300 people in catastrophic Phase 5 conditions, which represents a 160% increase from the last estimate.
- EU foreign ministers committed an additional €75 million to the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), plugging a critical funding gap that had threatened the mission’s viability.
- UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher warned during a visit to Somalia that the US-Israeli war on Iran is worsening humanitarian conditions in Mogadishu, with resources being diverted away from aid exacerbating food shortages.
- Pirates hijacked a cargo vessel carrying cement off the Somali coast near Garacad, the second such incident in less than a week, with nine armed men boarding the Sward and taking control of its 15-person crew.
Refugee and migration situation (per 30 April)
- Four persons were sentenced by a criminal court in Tripoli, Libya, for running a human trafficking ring that trafficked and smuggled migrants and refugees, abducted victims, tortured them and forced their families to pay ransom.
- Traffickers received between 12 and 22 years in prison, with one defendant being convicted in absentia.
- Libyan coast guard authorities intercepted over 400 migrants on ten boats off the coast of Tobruk in eastern Libya, with the Red Crescent reporting the migrants had faced harsh conditions at sea.
Links of interest
UNHCR condemns attack on aid truck in North Darfur
Thousands held by paramilitary RSF in Sudan’s el-Fasher: NGO
Families forced into displacement by famine in Sudan | Sudan war News | Al Jazeera
War and neglect fuel deadly measles epidemic in Sudan’s Darfur
Sudan army accused of drone strike on Zalingei displaced camp
Seven killed in drone strikes on Sudan’s El Obeid
Sudanese army says it repelled rebel attack in Blue Nile region
Sudan’s Burhan reaffirms rejection of RSF talks, vows to continue war
Saudi Arabia: Halt Imminent Executions of Ethiopian Migrants
TPLF says General Tadesse Woreda ‘should hand over power’
Plane crash in South Sudan kills all 14 on board
Sudan: New FAO assessment warns of escalating food and livelihood crisis
Over half of South Sudan’s population faces acute hunger crisis | UN News
EU plugs anti-Al Shabaab mission in Somalia with €75m new cash – EUobserver
UN aid chief says situation in Somalia worsened by US war on Iran | United Nations | Al Jazeera
Suspected pirates steer cargo vessel towards Somalia | News | Al Jazeera
Libyan court jails four human traffickers for up to 22 years, attorney general says
Libya: Over 400 migrants intercepted at sea off the coast of Tobruk – InfoMigrants
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