Nearly 700 civilians reported killed in drone strikes since January amid Sudan’s civil war: UN

GENEVA – Nearly 700 civilians have reportedly been killed in drone strikes in Sudan since January, the United Nations aid chief said on April 14, decrying that three years of civil war had created the “world’s largest humanitarian crisis”.

Now entering a fourth year, the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and thrust several areas into hunger and famine.

“In the first three months of this year, nearly 700 civilians were reportedly killed in drone strikes,” Mr Tom Fletcher said in a statement, a day before the third anniversary of the start of the war.

In recent months, near-daily drone strikes have disrupted life across Sudan, particularly in the southern Kordofan region, now the war’s main battleground, and in RSF-controlled areas of the west, including Darfur.

“Millions have been driven from their homes across Sudan and beyond its borders, with entire communities emptied and families uprooted time and again. The risk of wider regional instability is high,” said Mr Fletcher.

The UN aid chief said three years of war had torn apart a country bearing immense promise, with nearly 34 million people – almost two in every three – needing humanitarian support.

He said hunger is on the rise as the lean season closes in, while hundreds of thousands of children are acutely malnourished and millions are deprived of education. Women and girls are facing systemic and brutal sexual violence, he added.

Mr Fletcher said that in 2025, humanitarians reached 17 million people with support, and would try to help 20 million in 2026. However, “the response is critically underfunded”, he said.

“We need action now – to stop the violence, protect civilians, ensure access to communities in greatest danger, and fund the response. “This grim and chastening anniversary marks another year when the world has failed to meet the test of Sudan.”

Ms Denise Brown, the UN’s resident coordinator in Sudan, said on April 13 that the UN appeal to raise US$2.9 billion (S$3.69 billion) for Sudan in 2026 is only 16 per cent covered as international aid contributions from member countries decline. Donors are to gather in Berlin on April 15 for a conference on the conflict aimed at reviving faltering peace talks and mobilising aid for the humanitarian crisis. AFP