{"id":34208,"date":"2026-05-11T12:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34208"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:56:09","slug":"un-warns-drone-attacks-drive-surge-in-civilian-deaths-in-sudan","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/un-warns-drone-attacks-drive-surge-in-civilian-deaths-in-sudan\/","title":{"rendered":"UN warns drone attacks drive surge in civilian deaths in Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Chief warned on Monday that widening and intensifying violence in Sudan, as \u200bwell as the rising use of drones, could lead to \u200cmore death and displacement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;The international community is on notice that, unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another \u200bnew, even deadlier phase,&#8221; the high commissioner for the UN Human \u200bRights Office, Volker Turk, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Turk warned \u2060that armed drones have now become the leading cause of civilian \u200bdeaths. Drone strikes accounted for 80% of all conflict-related civilian deaths, with \u200bat least 880 people killed by an unmanned aerial vehicle between January and April this year, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Most were recorded in the Kordofan region, in \u200bDarfur.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Darfur, a vast region in western Sudan, has been a focal point\u00a0\u200bof violence, including ethnically charged killings, in the civil war that erupted in April \u200c2023\u00a0\u2060between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">However, the use of drones by the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces is spreading to other regions including Blue Nile, White Nile and \u200bKhartoum.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">&#8220;An intensification of \u200bhostilities in the \u2060coming weeks, as the parties seek to gain or consolidate control of territory amid shifting conflict dynamics, \u200brisks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern \u200bstates, with \u2060lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas,&#8221; Turk said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Drones were enabling fighting to continue during the rainy season, which had previously caused a lull \u2060in \u200bground operations, Turk said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">He called for \u200brobust measures to prevent the transfer of arms, including advanced armed drones, to the warring \u200bparties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32992,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34208","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"UN warns on widening and intensifying violence in Sudan","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34211,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34208\/revisions\/34211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}