Sudan16 July, 20263 min read
OCHA Says Drone Attacks and Cholera Spread Across Darfur and Kordofan, Sudan
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Cholera spreads to new areas in Darfur and Kordofan, UN warns. Drone attacks reported across Darfur and Kordofan endangering civilians and aid.
Cholera spreads amid drones
OCHA warned that fighting and disease outbreaks are taking a heavy toll on civilians across Sudan as cholera continues to spread to new areas in Darfur and Kordofan. In North Kordofan State, humanitarian partners reported that on Sunday a drone reportedly struck a fuel station in the Al Malaja area of El Obeid, while in North Darfur a drone struck several trucks traveling along the road between El Fasher and Um Kadada. OCHA also said a separate drone attack resulted in civilian casualties in Kubum town in South Darfur State as new cholera cases were reportedly confirmed in Kampala displacement camp in South Darfur and a first suspected case was reported in Tawila locality in North Darfur.
In West Kordofan, OCHA reported six new suspected cases and two associated deaths were recorded by health partners, and in North Kordofan it said 32 new suspected cholera cases were reported on Sunday in Gharb Bara locality. UN and WHO figures cited by OCHA put the outbreak at 1,330 confirmed cases and 114 deaths as of 7 July, as the UN and partners continue to pre-position supplies and scale up their response.
WHO warns of strain
Dr Shible Sahbani, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Sudan, said in Geneva that "Cholera is back and it’s affecting several states, mainly in the western part of the country, the Darfurs and the Kordofans." Sahbani told journalists that the cholera case fatality rate is already "extremely high" at 13.7 per cent and that it is expected to worsen when the upcoming rainy season sets in. He said the outbreak is particularly concerning for El-Obeid in North Kordofan, where he warned that "Health facilities are overwhelmed there and access to care is very, very limited."
The European Sting reported that WHO has prepositioned enough health supplies for more than 25,000 people in El-Obeid, while also noting that "it’s not enough" for the scale of need. The same briefing tied the cholera risk to the wider war context, saying the epicentre of fighting is between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Aid access and next risks
OCHA said insecurity and drone attacks are severely disrupting the delivery of essential assistance across Sudan, while it continued to report that partners are pre-positioning supplies and scaling up the response to the outbreak. The UN briefing also described how UNICEF delivered essential health supplies to El Fula in West Kordofan on 12 July to support nearly 430,000 people as part of the cholera response. OCHA’s update emphasized that it is calling for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and for rapid and flexible funding so partners can respond to growing needs across Sudan.
The European Sting added that WHO delivered 8.5 tonnes of medical supplies to Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan as part of an inter-agency convoy, describing it as the first WHO shipment to reach Kadugli since December 2024 because of access blockages. Against that backdrop, the European Sting said it is urging partners and donors to help it "to be able first to access and second to be able to send enough supplies and enough facilities in El-Obeid" as the situation there is "very, very bad and it’s worsening with higher risk of disease outbreaks."