Drone strikes kill more than 1,000 Sudan civilians in five months
The UN human rights chief says Sudan’s war has escalated as both sides rely more heavily on drones, worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
2 min read
Drone attacks killed more than 1,000 civilians in Sudan during the first five months of 2026, according to the United Nations. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the growing use of drones has intensified a war that has already displaced millions and left large parts of the country short of food and medical care.
Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday that Sudan’s conflict had widened and worsened, with what he described as a “sharp increase” in drone warfare. His office also reported widespread sexual violence, including rape.
The war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, erupted into open fighting. The conflict started in Khartoum and later spread to other parts of the country, according to UN accounts.
After three years of fighting, Sudan has become the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis, the UN says. The World Health Organization has reported that about 13.6 million people are displaced, more than 20 million need health assistance and 21 million are in urgent need of food.
Estimates of the number of people killed in the war differ widely. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a war-monitoring group known as ACLED, has put the toll at about 56,000 deaths, while other estimates cited in reporting on the conflict have reached as high as 150,000 or more.
Human rights groups and the UN have accused parties to the conflict of abuses including mass rape and killings motivated by ethnicity. Those acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to those groups and the UN.
ACLED said in June that Sudan’s war had changed over the past year into a conflict heavily shaped by drones. The group said both sides have been adjusting their tactics as the other side changes technology and battlefield methods, including cases of drone-on-drone combat.
The spread of drone use has also raised concerns about automated weapons and the rules governing them. Turk warned that autonomous weapons must not be allowed to become a tool for atrocity crimes.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.