Sudanupdated 1h ago3 min read
UN Condemns Sudan Drone Strikes, Urges Civilian Protection in Yala, Nyala, Khartoum
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“The UN on Wednesday condemned deadly drone strikes in Sudan”
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UN condemns deadly drone strikes in Sudan and calls for civilian protection under international law. Nyala market drone strike kills 21 and wounds dozens, per AFP citing medical sources.
Nyala market, wider attacks
The United Nations condemned deadly drone strikes in Sudan that killed dozens and injured more than 150 others, urging parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure amid escalating violence. UN secretary-general spokesman Stephane Dujarric said drone strikes Monday hit a market and a residential neighborhood in Yala, the capital of South Darfur State. Emergency Lawyers said a Sudanese military drone strike on a busy market in Nyala killed more than 100 people and injured 113, and the group blamed the Sudanese military while calling for an independent investigation.
Doctors Without Borders said 36 bodies arrived at its hospital in Nyala and reported seeing 150 injured in its emergency room, as the attacks also disrupted electricity across Khartoum after a drone attack on a major transformer station in Omdurman. The UN Human Rights Office recorded more than 306 deaths from drone strikes in the first three weeks of October, as calls for a humanitarian truce and a permanent ceasefire circulated alongside the market strike reports.
UN, France, and rights groups
The UN and France expressed concern over escalating drone attacks across Sudan, warning that strikes on civilian infrastructure were disrupting essential services and killing civilians, including children. The French embassy said the recent escalation in air strikes was entirely unacceptable, wherever they occurred, including Darfur, Khartoum, Abyei, the northern Nile Valley, Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Emergency Lawyers described the Nyala strike as a massacre, saying, "This massacre transformed a civilian marketplace into a scene of mass killing and injury and is an assault that threatens the lives of residents and compounds their suffering amid the ongoing war," while calling for an independent investigation.
Mona Rishmawi, an expert member of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, told a press briefing, "Thousands have been arrested by SAF security cells, detained and tortured in unofficial locations and in El Obeid Central Prison," as the Mission warned civilians faced drone attacks and arbitrary arrests. The UN-appointed investigators said RSF drone strikes continue to kill and injure civilians in El Obeid and may amount to war crimes, while only around 30 per cent of hospitals in the city remained operational after attacks.
Power outages and humanitarian gaps
A drone attack on a major power substation in Omdurman left large parts of Sudan's capital without electricity for more than 12 hours, according to an electric company official cited in reporting. The attack on the Al-Markhiyat transformer station disrupted power supplies, leaving hospitals and bakeries dependent on generators and limiting water supplies across Khartoum, as the state-run Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company acknowledged "serious damage and technical faults". A company official speaking on condition of anonymity estimated that the strike could affect around 60 per cent of the capital's power supply, and the reporting said water stations were likely to be among the worst affected.
The UN secretary-general spokesman Stephane Dujarric said humanitarian organizations reached more than 17 million people in Sudan with at least one form of assistance during the first nine months of the year, while only 3 million received aid across multiple sectors. The UN warned that worsening humanitarian access and shortages of shelter, clean water and sanitation were compounding civilian suffering, as the Mission in El Obeid said accountability remained absent one year after the RSF takeover of El Fasher.