UN human rights chief Volker Türk issued a statement on Monday highest alert on the increasing use of drones in the conflict in Sudan. Türk claimed that the conflict in Sudan will enter a new, more deadly phase if the international community does not take immediate action.
The Human Rights Office’s Sudan team found that more than 80 percent of all civilian deaths from January to April 2026 – at least 880 – resulted from drone strikes. These include attacks on Friday that killed 26 civilians in Al Quz, South Kordofan, and near El Obeid, North Kordofan.
Turkish warned:
This increasing reliance on drones allows hostilities to continue unabated even as the rainy season approaches, which has led to a lull in ground operations in the past. An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks, as parties seek to gain or consolidate control of the territory in the face of changing conflict dynamics, risks spreading hostilities even further into the central and eastern states, with deadly consequences for civilians across vast areas.
Targets attacked by drones include health facilities that have left hospitals inoperable and an attack on Khartoum International Airport on May 4 that resulted in the suspension of all flights. The Sudanese government has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are behind the drone attack on Khartoum airport and others. Military spokesman Brigadier General Asim Awad Abdelwahab claims to have information about four drone strikes since March 1 that were carried out from Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar using drones provided by the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE has been criticized for supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its war against the Sudanese government. The conflict Conflict broke out in Sudan in April 2023 between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has been described as one of the worst in the world humanitarian crises, with the RSF accused of genocide and war crimes by the United Nations.
