Sudan’s people subject to ‘relentless’ drone strikes in El Obeid

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The war in Sudan threatens to spiral further as the strategically-important town of El Obeid continues to face “relentless” drone attacks by advancing paramilitary militias, the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, said on Friday.

Speaking at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, he called for urgent action from world leaders to stop the heavy fighting that has already caused a massive humanitarian emergency in Sudan and beyond. Mass atrocity crimes against civilians have been a regular feature of the war that erupted in 2023.

In the space of just three weeks last month, Mr. Türk’s office documented 15 drone strikes on El Obeid – the capital of North Kordofan – and surrounding areas, which killed at least 45 civilians. 

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Impossible choices

The lethal autonomous weapons, launched by former allies the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the national army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), “have repeatedly struck markets, schools, fuel stations, water infrastructure and civilian vehicles”, the High Commissioner said, as he explained the terror now gripping besieged El Obeid:

“Some people are selling their belongings to finance their escape from the city. For many, the exorbitant cost of transport and constant attacks on vehicles along exit routes, make leaving impossible. 

We have documented patterns of summary executions, abductions, torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence, and looting along the routes taken by displaced people across the Kordofan region.”

Fears of another El Fasher

The High Commissioner’s warning follows previous atrocities against civilians including in the besieged North Darfur city of El Fasher last October, where 6,000 people were killed in a three-day rampage of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to his Office.

Last April, RSF paramilitaries repeatedly shelled and then overran nearby Zamzam camp, the largest camp for highly vulnerable people displaced in North Darfur by the war.

Red alert

“These crimes were foreseen, with repeated warnings by myself and my Office. But they were not prevented,” Mr. Türk stressed to the Human Rights Council’s 47 Member States, before insisting that the “red alert” being issued “is not a drill” and needs to land on the desks of Heads of State and government around the world”.

Echoing the call for action at the highest level, the UN rights chief call urged the Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent atrocity crimes. “El Obeid is a classic case that shows why the use of the veto should be limited, as proposed by France and Mexico more than 10 years ago,” he noted. 

Accountability for the crimes committed must happen too, he stressed, welcoming the continued engagement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on seeking justice for Sudan’s war victims.

El Obeid has more than half a million residents, together with at least 100,000 internally displaced persons – many of whom fled El Fasher in North Darfur and other devastated Sudanese cities.

Latest information from the city indicates that the RSF now has control over all surrounding routes, except towards the East. Residents described growing military movements around the city by the RSF and increasing insecurity with drone attacks along exit routes, the Human Rights Council heard.

‘Fear is pervasive’

“We have spoken with residents of the city. Fear is pervasive,” said Mona Rishmawi, from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan. 

Speaking at the Urgent Debate, she described how statements and videos circulated on social media accounts affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) showed military build-up around El Obeid and preparations to enter the city.

Amid increasing attacks on power stations and water facilities, “hospitals, markets, schools, and residential areas have also reportedly been struck, causing civilian casualties and disrupting essential services. Women and children are among those killed and injured,” she said.

In a related update, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that the number of newly displaced people across Kordofan has risen by nearly two-thirds in only three months. 

Forced displacement rising

The agency has also recorded more than 100 incidents causing forced displacement in less than nine months, averaging one major incident every two to three days. “Families are being uprooted faster than humanitarian assistance can reach them,” it said.

Speaking from Port Sudan, IOM Chief of Mission Refaat Mohamed explained that civilians “continue to be the main targets in this conflict”.

The aim of this strategy “is mainly to displace them…to start taking cities, empty cities,” he told journalists via video link. The El Fasher outrage “was not a one-time incident”, he continued, noting that it was part of a long-term trend in Sudan which the international community had failed to stop.

On El Obeid, the veteran humanitarian stressed that aid access is needed urgently to residents who’ve remained out of reach for two months. “We cannot access them,” he said. “We hear the stories from our enumerators on the ground who are assessing the needs that they have no access to water, electricity and they want a way out, but they cannot.”

Sudan has been engulfed in war since 2023, when fighting erupted between the formerly allied Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. 

The war has displaced more than 13 million people internally and driven millions more to the brink of famine, with humanitarian access severely constrained across much of the country.

‘It will never fall’

Sudan’s representative in the council had a heartfelt and defiant message for his fellow ambassadors: “For your information I am from El Obeid; this wounded city, it will never fall, as long as we are alive,” said Salim Ahmed Ibrahim.