Sudan’s war has a new geographic center of gravity: the Sudan Kordofan corridor linking army-held central regions with Rapid Support Forces territory in Darfur, according to a detailed Oct. 1, 2026 mapping analysis of the conflict’s fourth year.
North, West and South Kordofan sit where the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) meet. After the RSF took el-Fasher in October 2025, fighting and displacement intensified across the corridor, with drone strikes increasingly hitting towns and civilian sites.
Sudan Kordofan corridor: why the region matters
Al Jazeera, analyzing Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) through Sept. 19, 2026, found 14,648 recorded attacks nationwide since April 15, 2023. The three Kordofan states together logged about 2,876 attacks—roughly one in five of all recorded attacks—second only to Khartoum when the region is counted as a whole.
North Kordofan alone saw 1,205 attacks, with Sheikan locality—home to the commercial hub of el-Obeid—accounting for 41% of that state’s total. Control of el-Obeid would open an eastern route toward Khartoum for the RSF or, conversely, secure the army’s western approaches.
Army gains after Sodari, RSF still holds rural belts
In recent months the SAF and allied Joint Force fighters have pushed the RSF out of much of North Kordofan’s urban belt, including the late-September capture of Sodari town covered earlier in our Sodari offensive report. RSF units still hold rural positions west and south of el-Obeid and retain almost all of Darfur, keeping the corridor contested even as maps show army gains.
ACLED has recorded at least 12,314 reported fatalities in Kordofan since April 2023. The battle is increasingly aerial: drone strikes on schools and markets in North Kordofan have grown more frequent, compounding a humanitarian emergency already strained by floods and weak services.
Displacement and the el-Obeid warning
About 8.6 million people remain internally displaced across Sudan, the United Nations says, down from a January 2025 peak as some returnees move into army-retaken areas. Yet new displacement in Kordofan keeps rising. The International Organization for Migration reported that people newly displaced in Kordofan since October 2025 climbed 65% in four months, to at least 219,000 by late June, and warned that el-Obeid—sheltering roughly 500,000 people—faces a looming invasion risk.
Diplomatic freeze and the road ahead
Military momentum in Kordofan coincides with a stalled international track, including the earlier U.S. decision to withhold a UN visa for Sudan’s al-Burhan over truce compliance. Until a credible ceasefire freezes the corridor, SAF advances and RSF counter-pressure will keep deciding who controls the road between Darfur and the Nile—and who can deliver food, fuel and medicine along it. Regional spillover fears also linger after renewed Ethiopia-Tigray fighting nearby in the Horn.