Sudan drone strikes killed at least 880 civilians between January and April: UN

GENEVA: At least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes in Sudan between January and April this year, the United Nations (UN) said Monday, warning such strikes were pushing the conflict towards a 'new, even deadlier phase'.

Drone attacks by both Sudan's army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war since April 2023, have intensified across the country in recent months.

The UN rights office said that its Sudan team had determined that "drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths, more than 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths between January and April this year".

"Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in the statement.

He said that a growing use of drones allows fighting to continue 'unabated' in the rainy season, which in the past has seen a lull.

"An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks... risks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern states, with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas," he said.

More than three years of civil war in Sudan have already killed tens of thousands, displaced over 11 million and thrust several areas into famine.

But now, Turk warned that "unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase".

Most of the civilian deaths attributed to drone strikes in the first three months of the year were recorded in the Kordofan region and Darfur.

Those strikes have continued, with most recently on May 8 drones striking Al Quoz in South Kordofan and near El-Obeid in North Kordofan, reportedly killing 26 civilians and injuring others, the rights office said.

It said belligerents had used drones to repeatedly strike civilian objects and infrastructure, "diminishing access to sufficient food, clean water and health care".

Markets have been repeatedly targeted, with at least 28 such attacks resulting in civilian casualties in the first four months of the year.

Health facilities have been hit at least 12 times, it added.

Now, the rights office said, drone strikes by the RSF and the Sudanese army were increasingly spreading beyond Kordofan and Darfur, to Blue Nile, White Nile, and Khartoum.

Turk warned that heightened violence would disrupt provision of critical humanitarian assistance.

"Much of the country, including Kordofan, is now facing an increased risk of famine and acute food insecurity," he said, adding that the situation was being exacerbated by fertiliser shortages linked to the Middle East war.