UN condemns drone strikes across Sudan: market hit in Abyei, Khartoum targeted, 10 children among 19 reported dead over the weekend

The United Nations has condemned a new wave of drone strikes across Sudan, saying attacks on 19 October injured at least 19 people in a busy market in Abyei and hit several locations in Khartoum, including an area near the airport. UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric spoke to journalists in New York on Monday.

“We are alarmed by the continued deadly drone strikes across the country that are killing civilians, including children, and that are disrupting essential services,” Dujarric said. In Khartoum, one civilian was reportedly killed and some flights were cancelled after the strikes, according to the UN account. “We condemn all of these attacks unequivocally,” he added.

Weekend attacks in Darfur and Kordofan

The UN said that over the weekend drone attacks reportedly killed at least 19 people, including 10 children, and injured others across West Darfur, South Darfur and North Kordofan states. The UN did not attribute the individual strikes to either side in the statement summarised here. The war pits the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), former allies who jointly seized power in a 2021 coup. Fighting erupted in April 2023.

The escalation follows a series of deadly drone attacks the previous week. Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, urged outside actors on Friday to stop fuelling the violence and the use of drones, and called on the warring parties to return to the negotiating table, in a briefing to the Security Council. Geopolitiki reported on that meeting in Sudan at the Security Council: UK urges tougher sanctions and a truce a year after El Fasher fell.

Aid workers and hunger

Dujarric also drew attention to attacks on humanitarian staff. According to the UN, 25 Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers have reportedly been killed on duty since the conflict began, including one volunteer who was giving first aid at a health centre in Um Darfa, in Blue Nile State, after a drone attack last week. He said the targeting of people who risk their lives to help others is “particularly heinous” and reiterated that civilians, medical facilities and personnel must be protected under international humanitarian law.

The UN says 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of Darfur and Greater Kordofan; see also IPC warns of growing famine risk in Darfur and Kordofan as war and drought converge in Sudan. The humanitarian response plan for Sudan is just over 43 per cent funded, and Dujarric said more money is needed to sustain operations. As an example of ongoing work, he said UN partners recently rehabilitated a water facility in Zalingei, Central Darfur, restoring safe water access for some 2,500 people.

The casualty figures above are as relayed by the UN Spokesperson, who described several of them as reported; the UN did not publish verified totals for the individual strikes. Neither the SAF nor the RSF statements were part of the UN briefing.