Sudan Crisis: Dozens Killed in Drone Strikes as UN Envoy Urges De-Escalation
Two separate drone strikes killed at least 28 civilians in Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan, according to health workers, as the brutal war approaches its three-year mark.
Meanwhile, the UN envoy for Sudan called for de-escalation to pave the ground for ending hostilities, following a meeting with the Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in Khartoum.
Drone Strikes
On Wednesday, a drone strike hit a market in the town of Saraf Omra, in North Darfur state, killing “22 people, including an infant, and injuring 17 more,” AFP reported citing a health worker at the local clinic.
“The drone hit a parked oil truck, which caught fire along with part of the market,” a trader at the market named Hamid Suleiman said. The market serves Saraf Omra and the surrounding towns in the remote Darfur area, close to the border with Chad. The source of the attack remains unclear.
On the same day, another drone strike targeted a truck carrying civilians while traveling between the army-controlled towns of El-Rahad and Um Rawaba in North Kordofan, about 500 miles (800km) east of Darfur.
“Six bodies arrived at the hospital yesterday, three of them charred, in addition to 10 wounded,” a medical source at the hospital in the town of El Rahad told AFP, blaming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack.
Sudan War
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in brutal fighting between the SAF and the RSF that has effectively split the country in two.
So far, the war has killed 40,000 people, displaced around 12 million, and pushed parts of the country into famine amid cholera outbreaks, triggering what the UN called “the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis.”
The use of drone in airstrikes has seen a sharp increase this year, particularly in Kordofan region. From January 1 to March 15, drone strikes killed more than 500 civilians, according to the Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado.
Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that a drone strike on a hospital in East Darfur killed 64 people and wounded 89 on March 20.
Migration Crisis
Most recently, the UN migration agency warned that the conflict in Sudan could spark a displacement crisis similar to that caused by the Syrian civil war in 2011.
In remarks to Politico, the chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration in Sudan, Mohamed Refaat, said that the Sudan conflict has reached Syria-style refugee “tipping point” that could soon lead to an influx on migrants to neighboring countries.
“If you compare this conflict to what happened in Syria in 2011, when the displacement started building up … the migration routes started building and then the sudden outbreak of the conflict started impacting all the regional and cross-regional countries,” he explained.
“You might see more and more displacement entering the cross-border and beyond” if the conflict was not resolved, he warned. However, displaced Sudanese people would be willing to return and rebuild their country as soon as they see a “blink of hope of stability,” Refaat said.
UN Envoy in Khartoum
The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, urged the warring parties in Sudan to adopt dialogue and de-escalation to reach a ceasefire and end hostilities.
Haavisto met with Al-Burhan in Khartoum, as part of his three-day visit to the country. During their meeting, they discussed the situation in Sudan and efforts made to enhance security and stability and to achieve comprehensive peace, reported Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
The UN envoy, for his part, underscored his commitment to supporting efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire and finding a peaceful, permanent, and sustainable solution to the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Furthermore, Haavisto highlighted the importance of adopting dialogue and de-escalation to achieve a comprehensive cessation of hostilities.
He also stressed the need to continue engaging on ways to prioritize the protection of civilians and to explore confidence-building measures that could help create favorable conditions for achieving progress.
Haavisto emphasized the UN’s commitment to Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity as fundamental priorities. He added that the UN stands firmly with the Sudanese people and remains committed to working with international partners to support concrete steps toward ending the hostilities and charting a course for lasting peace through comprehensive and genuine dialogue.
