United Nations: Drones Killed 880 Civilians in Sudan Since 2026 Start

The United Nations human rights office reported Tuesday that drone strikes have killed at least 880 civilians across Sudan since the beginning of 2026, marking a deadly escalation in the country's protracted civil war and signaling what officials describe as a new and more lethal phase of the conflict. The figures, released by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reflect a sharp increase in the use of unmanned aerial systems by both warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, in their twenty-month battle for control of the country.

UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva that drone attacks have struck markets, hospitals, displacement camps, and residential neighborhoods in Khartoum, Omdurman, El Fasher, and the wider Darfur region. She warned that the proliferation of drone warfare in Sudan is transforming a ground-based civil war into an aerial campaign with devastating consequences for civilians who have little protection and nowhere to flee. The toll documented so far in 2026 already exceeds drone-related civilian deaths recorded in all of 2025, according to UN monitors operating from neighboring countries.

The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has displaced more than twelve million people and pushed parts of Sudan into famine conditions, according to humanitarian agencies. The International Organization for Migration estimates that Sudan now hosts the world's largest internal displacement crisis. Aid corridors remain obstructed, and famine has been formally declared in several locations including the Zamzam camp near El Fasher, where drone strikes have repeatedly hit civilian gatherings.

The UN report did not directly name the foreign suppliers of the drones, but independent investigators and Western governments have previously linked advanced loitering munitions and long-range strike drones used in Sudan to procurement networks involving multiple regional powers. Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have denied targeting civilians and accuse one another of war crimes.

Qatar has consistently called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and has supported African Union and Arab League mediation efforts, while channeling humanitarian assistance through Qatar Fund for Development and Qatar Charity. Doha has used its diplomatic platforms, including the United Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council, to press for unhindered aid access and accountability for attacks on civilians. Qatari officials have repeatedly warned that the externalization of the conflict, through arms transfers and foreign drone supplies, risks turning Sudan into a proxy battleground that destabilizes the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa, and the broader Arab world. The UN is urging an immediate halt to drone strikes targeting populated areas and a renewed push for negotiations in Jeddah.