GENEVA – UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday strongly condemned the escalation in drone strikes across Sudan this month, and their devastating consequences for civilians in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum, and other states.
In the first three weeks of October, the UN Human Rights Office documented at least 306 deaths and hundreds of injuries resulting from strikes by drones. The strikes, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hit civilian objects and infrastructure, including homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, as well as power stations and water sources.
“The increasing use of drones, already accounting for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan this year, is deeply disturbing and is exacting a horrifying toll,” said Türk.
“Scores of civilians have been killed and vital infrastructure and services on which they depend eviscerated, driving further displacement and deepening the already severe humanitarian crisis,” he said, renewing his call on the parties to the conflict to respect their clear and binding obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL), including by not directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects.
In a particularly disturbing trend, the UN Human Rights Office has documented numerous drone strikes on displacement sites, where those already forced to flee the fighting have found shelter. These attacks have resulted in a surge in casualties among internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Between 6 and 10 October, alleged drone strikes on IDP shelters in Ghubeish and El Nuhud in West Kordofan, attributed to the SAF, killed at least 25 civilians and injured 31 others, including women and children. In Abu Shendi in Blue Nile, on 9 October, an alleged RSF drone struck a crowd of IDPs engaged in artisanal gold mining near a displacement site, killing at least 31 people, most of them women and children.
Alleged RSF drones also struck the Bajaun gold mining area in Gadeer locality in South Kordofan, on 9 and 16 October, killing 42 civilians and injuring 25 others. Attacks on gold mining areas are tied to the war economy sustaining the conflict and raise serious concerns about the deliberate targeting of sites of economic value to the opposing party. Under the laws of war, an object’s financial contribution to the war effort is not by itself sufficient to render it a military objective.
Vehicles and gatherings of civilians also continue to come under attack. On 18 October, at least 139 people were killed and dozens more injured when a transportation truck was hit in a “double tap” repeat strike in Dibab West Kordofan, an area controlled by the RSF.
Markets continue to be subjected to drone strikes with alarming regularity, with deadly attacks in Al Dabba in North Darfur, Nyala in South Darfur, and Al-Idea in West Kordofan, reportedly killing a total of 23 civilians.
Healthcare facilities have also continued to come under attack. An RSF-attributed strike on Um Darfa hospital in Blue Nile, on 11 October, seriously injured two health workers and rendered the facility non-operational.
Retaliatory strikes are an emerging trend of concern, with RSF-attributed drone strikes on Khartoum, including the airport area, reportedly being carried out in response to alleged SAF aerial strikes on Nyala in South Darfur.
“Broader peace efforts must squarely address the continued influx of arms that is fuelling the conflict and press for an end to the transfer of arms that are used in manifest disregard of the IHL obligations protecting civilians,” said Türk.
“I urge both parties to the conflict, and their affiliates, to commit to a ceasefire,” the High Commissioner added, stressing that a negotiated settlement with human rights at its core, and underpinned by accountability for the widespread violations and abuses that are occurring, is the only feasible pathway to sustainable peace in Sudan.
