Drones are making Sudan’s war even deadlier for civilians
CAIRO (AP) — Drone warfare has become the deadliest threat to civilians Sudan Experts say Rapid Support Forces, both military and rival paramilitary, are being supplied from a number of countries in the Middle East and beyond.
“Armed drones have now become by far the leading cause of civilian deaths,” or more than 80 percent of conflict-related deaths, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said this week, calling for action to prevent them from being transported to Sudan. Drones killed at least 880 civilians between January and April.
The war in Sudan started in April 2023 and the death toll increased at least 59,000 peopleDisplaced and pushed as many as 13 million people Part of the country is falling into famine.
In recent weeks, RSF has carried out drone strikes. Khartoum International Airport and other areas near the capital that the military took control of last year.
Analysts say outsourced advanced drone technology is allowing warring parties to expand attacks on densely populated areas, complicating peace efforts and raising fears of a broader proxy conflict.
Drones targeted hospitals, dams, schools and markets
“On the battlefield, drones have emerged as a force multiplier that enables ground attacks and weakens enemy defenses,” said Jalale Getachew Birru, East Africa senior analyst for the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project.
He said both the army and the RSF were using drones to secure disputed areas, disrupt mobilization efforts and spread insecurity in rival-controlled areas.
ACLED found that at least 2,670 people, including combatants and civilians, were killed in 2025, indicating a 600% increase in drone-related deaths and an 81% increase in drone attacks compared to the previous year.
Drone strikes by warring parties have targeted civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, dams, schools, markets and displacement camps.
According to Turk, most civilian deaths in drone strikes occurred in the Kordofan region in central Sudan.
It was reported that 26 civilians were killed in drone attacks in South Kordofan and near the city of al-Obeid in North Kordofan on May 8. More than 70 people were killed Drone attacks on densely populated areas in Kordofan Earlier this year, according to the Sudanese Doctors Network.
On Tuesday, Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers said nine drone attacks on civilian vehicles had killed at least 36 people in seven provinces over the past 10 days.
The group blamed both the military and the RSF and said some drones used visual tracking technology that could distinguish targets, raising concerns that the attacks might not be indiscriminate.
Drones played a role in the deadly takeover of Al-Fasher
Soufan Center research fellow Gabriella Tejeda said the paramilitary RFS only began using drones extensively last year.
Tejeda said the military and RSF are competing to acquire new drone models, especially from China, but RSF is modifying drones and “increasingly competing to get newer, more complex models, with the UAE possibly procuring them.” The United Arab Emirates has denied supplying drones to RSF.
RSF is supported by external technologies, primarily from the UAE, and satellite images show it uses Chinese-made CH-95 and FH-95 drones, roughly the size of small aircraft, said Nathaniel Raymond, managing director of the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at the Yale School of Public Health.
In areas such as the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur, where at least 6,000 people were killed For three days last year, RSF drones intercepted communications with civilians “crying for help” and targeted them when a signal was detected, Raymond said.
The official added that the RSF would not have been able to capture the city without these capabilities.
“The complexity of how they use drones in Al-Fasher is unique because it’s the first time you’re seeing this concept of layered, hunter-killer operations to kill people, basically trapped in a kill box or inside a wall, to keep them from crying out for help,” Raymond said of the city that UN experts say is marked by violence. “Distinctive features of genocide.”
Army’s drones hit civilian infrastructure
The military’s drone technology has been accused of striking civilian infrastructures such as: Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfurincident in which at least 64 people died. The military officially denied responsibility. But two military officials said at the time that the intended target was a nearby police station.
Raymond said there had been an “alarming increase” in military drone attacks on protected infrastructure such as schools and markets over the past four to six months. The military argued that it did not target civilian infrastructure.
Last month, ACLED said the military’s drone technology was supplied by Turkey, Russia, Iran and Egypt, while RSF was supplied through networks connected to the UAE through regional choke points such as Ethiopia, Chad and Libya.
Earlier this month, Sudanese government blames neighbor Ethiopia They are allegedly behind recent drone attacks on locations including Khartoum airport. He accused the UAE of supplying the drones. Both countries denied the allegations.
“Ethiopia is the UAE’s central partner, so the allegations are not unfounded and reflect an attempt by the UAE to influence the outcome of the war,” Tejeda said. he said.
Cross-border drone activity may have contributed to increased civilian deaths, but Birru and Raymond said this is difficult to confirm.
“The increasing tempo of war on both sides and the active investment of their supporters in the war makes it clear that neither side is interested in a solution,” Tejeda said.
