Region coverage
Dated GeoSignal briefings on North Africa. Read developments, assessment and source references in their original context.
Firsthand accounts published on 30 July allege that Colombian personnel trained children used by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, adding detail to established concerns over foreign contractors and child recruitment while leaving the specific claims unadjudicated.
Thousands rallied in Tunis on 25 July 2026, demanding President Kais Saied leave office and highlighting continuing opposition to the political order established by his 2021 exceptional measures.
Libyan authorities secured the Mellitah complex on July 28 and the National Oil Corporation authorised production and normal gas flows to resume, easing an immediate threat to western Libya’s power grid.
Libyan authorities secured the Mellitah complex on July 28 and the National Oil Corporation authorised production and normal gas flows to resume, easing an immediate threat to western Libya’s electricity grid after protesters halted operations.
Libya’s Tripoli-based government says gas supply from the Mellitah complex is resuming gradually after protesters shut lines feeding power plants, while the scale and duration of disruptions to El Feel and Wafa production remain unverified.
Protests over prolonged electricity outages in Tripoli escalated on 27 July into roadblocks and blockades affecting public institutions, increasing pressure on Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity.
Protesters in Tripoli and nearby districts are blocking roads and access to public institutions as prolonged electricity cuts during a heatwave broaden into demands for accountability and political change.
The United Kingdom’s 16 July sanctions package remains in force, imposing asset freezes and related restrictions on 11 individuals and entities alleged to support RSF- and SAF-linked financing, procurement, logistics and gold-revenue networks.
The UK’s 16 July sanctions package remains in force, imposing asset freezes and transaction prohibitions on 11 individuals and entities alleged to support the financing, gold revenues, procurement and logistics of Sudan’s warring parties.
The UK’s 16 July sanctions package adds 11 individuals and entities to its Sudan regime, applying asset-freeze and related restrictions to actors it says are linked to conflict-gold, procurement and financial networks supporting the RSF or SAF.
EU restrictions on Sudan-origin gold and specified mining chemicals have been in force since 15 July, while the UK has separately sanctioned 11 individuals and entities it alleges support commercial, procurement and financing networks linked to Sudan’s warring parties.
EU restrictions on Sudan-origin gold exported after 15 July 2026 are now in force, extending to related finance and services while the item-level scope of separate mining-input controls remains to be determined.
The EU’s new Sudan sanctions bar EU-linked trade and services involving gold originating in Sudan and restrict mercury and cyanide exports to the country, adding sectoral pressure on conflict-finance channels.
EU-wide restrictions on specified Sudan-origin gold, mercury and sodium cyanides for use in Sudan have been in force since 15 July, creating a new sectoral sanctions constraint on trade and related services linked to Sudan’s war economy.
As of 17 July, the EU has imposed sector-wide restrictions on Sudanese gold and mining chemicals, while the UK has frozen assets of 11 people and entities it says support conflict-finance and procurement networks linked to Sudan’s warring sides.
EU sectoral restrictions on Sudan-origin gold and on mercury and cyanide exports to Sudan entered into force on 15 July, extending the bloc’s Sudan regime beyond targeted listings.
The European Union’s new Sudan sanctions prohibit EU-linked purchases, imports and transfers of Sudan-origin gold and restrict mercury and cyanide exports to Sudan, widening the regime into sectoral measures aimed at the conflict economy.
EU restrictions on Sudan-origin gold and mining chemicals take effect on 15 July, requiring EU-linked traders, financiers, insurers and suppliers to screen covered transactions and exports.
The European Union has adopted sectoral sanctions barring EU-linked trade in gold originating in Sudan and restricting mercury and cyanide exports to Sudan, widening pressure on a conflict-linked economic sector.
The EU has agreed to bar EU-linked transactions in Sudan-origin gold and restrict mercury and cyanide supplies to Sudan, expanding pressure on the country’s war economy while legal publication remains pending.
On 9 July 2026, a senior ICC official said investigators had made a material evidentiary advance in the Darfur case, improving prosecutors’ ability to connect alleged crimes in El Geneina and El Fasher to senior leadership without publicly establishing any new indictment, warrant, or surrender.
As of 3 July, UN officials said a human-rights catastrophe was unfolding in and around El Obeid after reported RSF reinforcements from mid-June and continued attacks left the city under severe civilian and aid-access pressure.
As of 1 July 2026, UN reporting indicated that significantly increased drone attacks and expanded Rapid Support Forces presence around El Obeid had narrowed the window to avert a wider battle that could endanger about 500,000 civilians.
By 30 June, international warnings had intensified that RSF pressure on El Obeid, including repeated strikes, shortages and constrained access, was creating an imminent risk of large-scale violence against civilians.
